Promotion system supporting web content and promotion searching

ABSTRACT

An online sales/automatic rebate and coupon redemption system provides online customers automatic retrieval and redemption of all applicable rebates and coupons during purchase. Purchase orders from customers are selectively fulfilled and products are shipped to the customers either by the system for online sales with automatic rebate and coupon redemption or by other merchant or manufacturer environments. The system purchases from merchants using applicable coupons and rebates and then sells the products to the customers, passing the savings to them. The system makes it possible to automatically retrieve coupons and rebates for items in a shopping cart during the activity of an online purchase at an electronic mall or an online merchant site. The system provides coupons to potential customers via email, based on customer profile, geographical information, etc. Manufacturers and merchants can update coupon value and content based on ongoing sales and volume of customer activity.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO PRIORITY APPLICATIONS

This application is a divisional of U.S. Ser. No. 13/449,961, filed Apr.18, 2012, which is a continuation of the following applications:

U.S. application Ser. No. 13/109,093 (Docket No. B011C2), filed May 17,2011, now issued as U.S. Pat. No. 8,181,851, which is a continuation ofU.S. application Ser. No. 12/467,557 (Docket No. B011C), filed May 18,2009, now issued as U.S. Pat. No. 7,942,316, which is a continuation ofU.S. application Ser. No. 09/808,717 (Docket No. B011), filed Mar. 14,2001, now issued as U.S. Pat. No. 7,539,628, which is based on andclaims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Nos. 60/214,136 (Docket No.00A011), filed Jun. 26, 2000, 60/214,183 (Docket No. 00A01), filed Jun.26, 2000, and 60/190,825 (Docket No. 00GP0001P), filed Mar. 21, 2000;

U.S. application Ser. No. 13/224,052 (Docket No. B012C2), filed Sep. 1,2011, which is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 09/808,722,filed Mar. 14, 2001 (Docket No. B012), now issued as U.S. Pat. No.8,036,941, which is based on and claims the benefit of U.S. ProvisionalNos. 60/213,912 (Docket No. 00A012), filed Jun. 26, 2000, 60/214,183(Docket No. 00A01), filed Jun. 26, 2000, and 60/190,825 (Docket No.00GP0001P), filed Mar. 21, 2000;

U.S. application Ser. No. 13/104,311 (Docket No. B013C2), filed May 10,2011, now issued as U.S. Pat. No. 8,177,124, which is a continuation ofU.S. application Ser. No. 12/467,664 (Docket No. B013C), filed May 18,2009, now issued as U.S. Pat. No. 7,938,316, which is a continuation ofU.S. application Ser. No. 09/808,723 (Docket No. B013), filed Mar. 14,2001, now issued as U.S. Pat. No. 7,542,922, which is based on andclaims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Nos. 60/190,825 (Docket No.00GP0001P), filed Mar. 21, 2000, 60/214,183 (Docket No. 00A01), filedJun. 26, 2000, and 60/214,188 (Docket No. 00A013), filed Jun. 26, 2000;and

U.S. application Ser. No. 09/687,499 (Docket No. 020), filed Oct. 13,2000, which is a continuation-in-part of U.S. application Ser. No.09/547,162, filed Apr. 11, 2000, now abandoned, which is based on andclaims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Nos. 60/130,082, filed Apr. 19,1999, 60/130,083, filed Apr. 19, 1999, 60/130,084, filed Apr. 19, 1999;60/131,008, filed Apr. 23, 1999, 60/144,584, filed Jul. 19, 1999,60/146,208, filed Jul. 28, 1999, 60/147,062, filed Aug. 4, 1999, and60/159,388, filed Oct. 14, 1999.

The above-identified applications are all hereby incorporated herein byreference in their entirety and constitute part of the presentapplication.

BACKGROUND

1. Technical Field

The present invention relates generally to online sales and marketing,and, more specifically, to the dispensing of rebates and coupons tocustomers on the Internet and to the redemption of the rebates andcoupons for customers by a system for online sales during onlinepurchase on the Internet.

2. Related Art

Coupons have been traditionally dispensed by manufacturers and retailersto customers by means of inserts in newspapers. Some manufacturers alsomail coupons to customers. Rebates have traditionally been offered bymanufacturers to push the volume of sales of specific products. Suchproducts are typically those for which the manufacturers have excessinventories or those that are being phased out.

Of late Internet based sales have increased in volume. Somemanufacturers have made it possible for a potential customer to obtainrebate forms or coupons from their web site. These rebate or coupons canbe downloaded and printed by customers to be redeemed in traditionalneighborhood stores.

In general, there are several problems associated with dispensing andredeeming coupons in online sales and marketing activities. Theseinclude the frequent inability of a customer to use a coupon placed byan advertiser or merchant in a newspaper or brochure during the activityof online product purchase due to the remoteness of the merchant orvendor. That is because traditional coupon delivery and redeemingmethods do not integrate well with Internet based sales where a customervisits a vendor or merchant's web site rather than a store forpurchases. The customer and the vendor are also typically located indifferent cities and it is not possible to redeem traditional coupons insuch a scenario.

These problems are also true for manufacturer's rebates. Such rebatesare typically dispensed in traditional neighborhood stores and are to bemailed back to manufacturers with receipts for the related purchases.Customer's seldom redeem them as redemption requires making a photocopyof their receipts and mailing the receipts along with the rebates to themanufacturer and waiting a few weeks for a check from the manufacturer.

Sellers often provide coupons and rebates as an incentive to promotesales of specific products. A manufacturer attempts to identify theamount and quantity of each rebate or coupon and the time period duringwhich such offer will be valid. Such rebates and coupons are typicallydelivered in a paper form to distributors and retailers. Distributorsreceiving such rebates and coupons further forward the rebates andcoupons to their associated retailers.

To use the rebates and coupons online, the retailer often has to modifythe product database, web server content, and, possibly, its salesapplication. This burden along with the burden of having to collect fromthe manufacturer dissuades the retailer from participating in the rebateand coupon process. Without knowing whether or to what extent theretailers will participate, a manufacturer may under or overestimate thenumber or amount of rebates or coupon offerings.

An overestimation may, for example, cause a manufacturer to over sell aproduct beyond an inventory. Similarly, an underestimation may fail tomove an inventory before the value of such inventory plummets.Complicating this problem, a manufacturer by law must honor any couponor rebate once distributed at least for a period of time identified onthe rebate or coupon.

In addition to the difficulties associated with integrating rebates andcoupons into their online sales systems, retailers have monetarydisincentives to do so. In particular, a retailer typically purchasesgoods expecting a certain profit margin upon selling such goods. Toapply a manufacturer's coupon or rebate at the time of the sale requiresthe retailer to seek at least a part, if not all of their profit fromthe manufacturer 30-90 days after making the sale.

Some online retailers offer their own “coupons and rebates”, hoping tocapture the attention of price conscience buyers. Such online retailerswho post their own coupons or rebates are typically suspect in creatinga façade pricing scheme.

Because retailers have little incentive to provide support formanufacturer's coupons and rebates on-line, buyers are left with couponrebate options. In some cases, buyers may still use such coupons andrebates but must do so via post (snail mail) and subsequently receivethe redemption value via return post.

After receiving a product, if a buyer is interested in redeeming acoupon or rebate and/or registering the product, for technical supportor update reasons, the buyer must typically fill out a form, which theymail via post to the manufacturer. Upon receipt, the manufacturer willhave to read the handwriting of the buyer to add the buyer's informationfrom the form to their database. If the good purchased is software, onlyregistration information may be gathered during installation. The buyeris still forced to interact with the manufacturer via post for couponsor rebates. The entire process fails if the buyer misplaces the receiptor the coupon or rebate or fails to file the same within a requiredtimeframe. Upon receipt of such information the manufacturer mustdetermine whether or not to honor a coupon or rebate. To do so, theymust determine whether the coupon or rebate applies to a specific goodthat has been sold to the specific buyer. Because this process isdifficult, it is not only time consuming but is also subject to fraud.Such fraud may involve a purported buyer operating independently, abuyer and retailer operating together, or a retailer operatingindependently.

To combat fraud, manufacturers apply complicated approaches to attemptto link the coupon or rebate to the specific good, often confusing anddisappointing buyers and retailers. For example, a fifteen digit modelnumber may appear to correspond to a coupon being offered and causing asale even though one digit may be off and only identified after amanufacturer's rejection has been received. If this happens to aretailer, the retailer may lose money on the sale of the item. If ithappens to the buyer, the buyer may be angry with the retailer and/orthe manufacturer and avoid their businesses in the future.

With large distributed channels, manufacturers typically do not know theidentity of their retailers. This further complicates the rollout ofcoupon or rebate offering.

Many other problems and disadvantages associated with prior systems willbecome apparent to one of skill in the art upon review of such priorsystems and in light of the teachings herein.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A system and/or method is provided for an online promotion systemsupporting buyers, sellers and promoters, substantially as shown inand/or described in connection with at least one of the figures, as setforth more completely in the claims.

Many other aspects and variations of the promotion system of the presentinvention can be appreciated by one of skill in the art through reviewof the detailed description, corresponding drawings, and claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DIAGRAMS

The numerous objects and advantages of the present invention may bebetter understood by those skilled in the art by reference to theaccompanying figures in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective diagram of an online buyer using a computer,interacting with a system for online sales with automatic rebate andcoupon redemption, via the Internet, to obtain savings from theautomatic redemption of rebates and coupons that can apply towards hisonline purchases;

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the various inputs and outputs of the systemfor online sales with automatic rebate and coupon redemption;

FIG. 3 shows the various elements contained in a rebate or a coupon inaccordance with the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing exemplary components of the system foronline sales with automatic rebate and coupon redemption;

FIG. 5 is a perspective diagram of an online sales environment having apromotional server that interacts with online seller or non-seller,buyer, and issuer systems for offering promotional services;

FIG. 6 is a flow diagram illustrating rebate processing functionality ofone embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a flow diagram illustrating coupon processing functionality ofanother embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 8 is a flow diagram illustrating the application of various aspectsof the present invention to any promotional processing functionalityincluding that of rebate and coupon processing;

FIG. 9 is a flow diagram illustrating the application of various aspectsof the present invention to any promotional processing wherein thepromotion may involve more than a discount off a purchase price;

FIG. 10 is a flow diagram illustrating the exemplary operation of aretail product or service sales server with a client and with aplurality of manufacturer servers to support a promotion such as arebate or coupon;

FIG. 11 is a schematic block diagram of exemplary system levelinteraction that illustrates the functionality described in relation toFIG. 10;

FIGS. 12-15 are diagrams illustrating buying and selling systems;

FIG. 16 is a block diagram of the Multi-Seller Interface System's rolein the identification of Sellers for a Buyer attempting to purchaseproducts Product A and Product B over the Internet;

FIG. 17 is a block diagram of the Multi-Seller Interface System capableof interacting with Seller's systems employing a Sales Bridge softwarethat is installed on each of the Seller's systems;

FIG. 18 is a schematic block diagram illustrating various functionalityof a Multi-Seller Interface System's and Seller's systems;

FIG. 19 is an exemplary flowchart of typical workflow at theMulti-Seller Interface System;

FIG. 20 is an exemplary screen layout that a Buyer interacts with inorder to select products and obtain product prices during an onlinepurchasing activity supported by the MSIS;

FIG. 21 is a diagram that shows a list of products with prices providedto Buyer by the MSIS;

FIG. 22 is a functional block diagram of buyer and seller systeminteraction with the system of the present invention;

FIG. 23 is a functional block diagram of buyer and seller systeminteraction with the Multi-Seller Interface System (MSIS) of the presentinvention;

FIG. 24 is a block diagram illustrating web based, interactive andnon-web based, automatic access of software by buyers and sellers of thepresent invention;

FIG. 25 is a diagram illustrating buyer's use of web client software toselect and request server pages for one of a plurality of applicationservices of the present invention;

FIG. 26 is a diagram illustrating the interactions between the softwareand the Seller's system of the present invention;

FIG. 27 is a diagram illustrating an individual buyer interface systemthat runs on the MSIS of the present invention;

FIG. 28 is a diagram illustrating an application service that providesfor up, cross and seller to seller opportunity management for automated,email-based target marketing without the need to release buyer orspecific seller information to another participating seller of thepresent invention;

FIG. 29 is a block diagram illustrating channel services offered inaccordance with the present invention;

FIG. 30 is a block diagram illustrating channel services offered inaccordance with the present invention;

FIG. 31 is a diagram illustrating Sales Promotion Services offered inaccordance with the present invention;

FIG. 32 is a diagram illustrating an auction function offered inaccordance with the present invention;

FIG. 33 is a diagram illustrating a Corporate and Government BiddingService offered in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 34 is a schematic diagram of an Integrated Channel Systemcomprising an Integrated Channel Service Manager, a manufacturerenvironment comprising an Inventory system, a Pricing system, aConfiguration system, and an Order fulfillment system, a Reseller systemfor Reseller A comprising an inventory system and an order system, aReseller system for Distributor B comprising a Seller's system, and aRetailer system for Retailer C comprising a Seller's system inaccordance with the present invention;

FIG. 35 is a schematic diagram of an Integrated Channel Systemcomprising an Integrated Channel Service Manager and a manufacturerenvironment of the present invention;

FIG. 36 is a perspective diagram of an online buyer interacting with aserver, via the internet, to specify products that are to be purchasedperiodically, to selectively save the specification of products that areto be purchased periodically in a Script Storage and ExecutionEnvironment, and to selectively retrieve previously saved specificationof products from the Script Storage and Execution Environment formodification or for purchasing;

FIG. 37 is a diagram showing the incorporation of the Script Storage andExecution Environment into both the web server and themanufacturer/merchant environment;

FIG. 38 is a block diagram showing the different functional componentsof a web server environment that facilitates email and script basedsales transactions;

FIG. 39 is a block diagram of a scripting execution environment thatprovides access to various resources and data via appropriate interfacesduring the execution of scripts;

FIG. 40 is a perspective diagram of an online customer using a computerinteracting with an online sales and pricing system, via the internet,to conduct online purchases during which the pricing computationemploys, among other things, the customer's schedule of productdelivery, the forecasts of product prices provided by online futurestrading systems and the projected needs of the customer;

FIG. 41 is a diagram showing the various inputs and outputs of theonline sales and pricing system;

FIG. 42 shows various forms of product price forecasting informationreceived by the online sales and pricing system from pricing forecastingsystems such as futures trading systems, commodity tradingorganizations, market research institutions, manufacturers, etc.;

FIG. 43 is a block diagram showing exemplary components of the onlinesales and pricing system; and

FIG. 44 shows the operation of the pricing logic based on unit prices ofthe products as determined by forecasted pricing information obtainedfrom pricing forecast providers and the delivery schedule provided bythe customer.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DIAGRAMS

FIG. 1 is a perspective diagram of an online buyer using a computer 5,interacting with an online rebate and coupon dispensing and redeemingsystem 15, via the Internet 10, to obtain savings from the automaticredemption of rebates and coupons that can apply towards his onlinepurchases. The system 15 is typically associated with a web server orserver environment 20 that provides Internet-based web hosting services.In addition, the system 15 is linked via appropriate connections 45 toinformation systems at one or more manufacturer or merchant environments25. Such information systems include appropriate Internet web hostingservices.

The system 15 performs many functions. Among other functions, in manyembodiments, the system 15: (1) verifies that a manufacturer's rebate orcoupon applies to an independent retailer's offering; (2) instantlyapplies such rebates or coupons; (3) places control in the manufacturerfor designing and defining the number, amount and, if desired,applicable timeframe of coupons or rebates in real time; (4) placescontrol in the manufacturer for changing, replacing or canceling ofcoupons or rebates; and (5) supports advertising of rebates and couponson many web servers by providing corresponding coupon and rebateprocessing. Thus, the system 15 automates the traditional humanintensive coupon and rebate processing.

The system 15 supports automatic and manual adjustments of promotionalofferings, i.e., coupons, rebates, etc. Automatic adjustments may betriggered by a variety of parameters such as the amounts of coupons andrebates distributed, the amount of coupons and rebates redeemed, currentproduct inventory levels of the manufacturer or the distributor orretailer, the shelf life of products in inventory, etc. Adjustments mayinclude increasing or decreasing the promotional value, i.e., the amountof the coupon or rebate, the quantity of coupons or rebates to bedistributed, the term of the coupon or rebate, the goods to which thecoupon or rebate may apply, or any other coupon or rebate parameter. Theautomatic adjustment parameters may be set up by the manufacturer,retailer, distributor, or system administrator via a web browserinterface. Such interface may also be used to: modify such automaticadjustment parameters; change the coupon or rebate parameters; orwithdraw the coupon or rebate.

Customers are presented with a catalog of products to choose from, bythe web server or server environment 20 associated with the system foronline sales with automatic rebate and coupon redemption 15, when theyvisit the system for online sales with automatic rebate and couponredemption 15. If the customer selects one or more products from thecatalog or list of products available at the system for online saleswith automatic rebate and coupon redemption 15, they are provided withthe option of purchasing the products with the automatic retrieval andapplication of rebates and coupons. They are also provided with theoption of downloading them for purchasing those products at a futuretime.

If the customer elects to purchase the selected products from the systemfor online sales with automatic rebate and coupon redemption 15, allapplicable rebates and coupons are applied to the customer's purchasesby the system 15 in the determination of a final purchase price for thecustomer. The customer can consummate the purchase by using a creditcard for payment. The system 15 processes customer's credit cards forsales processing.

Customer profiles, typically provided by customers during a customerprofile generation activity, are selectively used by the system 15 tocomplete sales transactions and to ship products. Customer profileincludes shipping address, credit card related information, etc. Once acustomer profile is created, it is used to expedite subsequent customerpurchases. Customers who choose not to have a profile created for themmay be required to enter their shipping address, credit card relatedinformation, etc. during each purchasing activity.

In one embodiment of the present invention, a customer using thecomputer 5 and the Internet connection 30, accesses one or more rebateand coupon dispensing web pages presented by a server environment 20associated with and communicatively coupled with the system for onlinesales with automatic rebate and coupon redemption 15. In thisembodiment, the customer would retrieve one or more coupons and rebatesfor one or more products that the customer plans to purchase, bybrowsing through several categories of products presented by the systemfor online sales with automatic rebate and coupon redemption 15. Therebates and coupons for products are also located by searching for themvia a searching interface. The customer then activates a purchase buttonto purchase the products. The system 15 completes a purchase order forthe customer incorporating all the products selected by the customer andapplying all applicable rebates and coupons. It also performs orderfulfillment operations aimed at assigning products from its inventory tothe customer.

In one embodiment, the inventory of some of the products purchasablefrom the system 15 is selectively maintained by themanufacturer/merchant environment 25. For such products, to performorder fulfillment activities, the system 15 interacts with themanufacturer/merchant environment 25, over the connection 45, in one oftwo approaches. In the first approach, the manufacturer/merchantenvironment 25 receives purchase orders to some products currentlyavailable in their inventory from the system for online sales withautomatic rebate and coupon redemption 15, along with rebate and couponinformation, in order to perform order fulfillment for the customer. Thecustomer profile, or a subset thereof, is visible to themanufacturer/merchant environment 25 which then ships the products tothe customer. In effect, the customer pays the manufacturer/merchantenvironment 25 directly for the products purchased from it.

In the second approach, the system 15 purchases the products using allassociated coupons and rebates from the manufacturer/merchantenvironment 25 on behalf of the customer and has the purchased productsshipped directly to the customer. In this scenario, the system 15 actsas a purchaser and pays for the products purchased from themanufacturer/merchant environment 25. It then bills the customer for theactual purchase price that incorporates relevant rebates and coupons.Thus, the customer benefits from the instantaneous redemption of couponsand rebates facilitated by the coupon dispensing and redemption system15.

In one embodiment, the system 15 serves as a front end to the e-commercesites of manufacturers and merchants wherein customers purchase productsfrom the system 15 and reimburse it, say via credit cards, for theproducts purchased online. The system 15 in turn acquires the productspurchased by the customer from designated suppliers such asmanufacturers, distributors or retail merchants. A supplier is selectedbased on the product category, the inventories of products at thevarious suppliers, the business arrangements made with various suppliersand other criteria. In effect, the supplier sells the products to thesystem 15 which ensures the redemption of all available coupons andrebates for the purchases. The system 15 sells those products back tothe customer passing most of the savings from rebates and coupons to thecustomer. The system 15 selectively charges the suppliers a transactionfee for generating their business. The customer is also selectively madeto pay a service charge to the system 15 for its seamless and automaticrebate and coupon redemption.

In another embodiment of the present invention, the customer retrievesrebates and coupons from the system 15 and then saves these rebates andcoupons, preferably in his browser software or on the hard disk of hiscomputer 5. Such rebates and coupons are preferably saved in electronicform, for subsequent submission to the system for online sales withautomatic rebate and coupon redemption 15, or to themanufacturer/merchant environment 25, during a purchasing activity. Whenpresented with such coupons during any purchasing activity, themanufacturer/merchant environment 25 presents them, over the connection45, to the system 15 for selective coupon and rebate authentication andselective redemption.

In another exemplary scenario, the online customer using the personalcomputer 5 accesses the Internet via a connection 30 employing a modemon his computer and a browser software on his computer. He then, usinghis browser software, navigates to a manufacturer/merchant environment25, such as an electronic mall, to purchase one or more items of hischoice. A connection 50 established over the Internet between thecomputer 5 and the manufacturer/merchant environment 25 allows userselection of purchasable items, optionally via a catalog of itemspresented to the customer by the manufacturer/merchant environment 25.After selecting the desired items into a shopping cart, the customerinvokes a rebate and coupon button on a screen presented by themanufacturer/merchant environment 25 that results in the submission ofthe shopping cart to the system 15 via a connection 45. In response, thesystem 15 selectively returns all applicable coupons to each of theitems in the customers shopping cart. This includes manufacturer'scoupons, retailer's coupons etc. In addition, if any items in theshopping cart are not specific enough to unambiguously identify amanufacturer, the system 15 returns coupons for multiple manufacturersof similar products for the customer to choose from. The returnedrebates and coupons are automatically applied by themanufacturer/merchant environment 25 in the determination and display ofa final price for the customer.

To submit online information on coupons to the system 15 so that theycan be dispensed to customers, one or more manufacturer/merchantenvironments 25 employ a connection 55, which is some cases, such as theInternet, may be the same as the link 45 used by themanufacturer/merchant environment 25 to extract coupons on behalf of acustomer from the system for online sales automatic rebate and couponredemption 15.

The system 15 selectively provides manufacturers and merchantsinformation on the customer's region, the volume of sales, the materialvelocity of the products, etc. thus giving manufacturer/merchantenvironment 25 the ability to change coupons based on their sales goalsand other criteria.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the various inputs and outputs of the systemfor online sales with automatic rebate and coupon redemption 15. Thesystem 15 receives Request for Rebates and Coupons From Online Customers105 and, in response, returns Rebates and Coupons To Online Customers110. In addition, it receives a List of Purchases or Shopping Cart 115from online merchants or online malls and, in response, it returnsRebates and Coupons 120. It also receives Scheduled and UnscheduledUpdate of Rebates and Coupons 125 from manufacturers and retailers. Toautomatically provide rebates and coupons to customers periodically, thesystem 15 performs Targeted Online Delivery 130, typically via email.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the system 15 receives aList of Purchases or Shopping Cart 115 from customers. In response, itprices the shopping cart and automatically applies all relevant rebatesand coupons to the various products in the shopping cart. It thenperforms order fulfillment activities to ship the products to thecustomer.

FIG. 3 shows the various elements contained in a rebate or a coupon inaccordance with the present invention. The coupon 300 dispensed by thesystem 15 are each a structured collection of information including anidentification 305, information on the value of the coupon 320, anexpiry date 325, images or links to one or more images 330 for displaypurposes, links to a product manufacturer 310, and links to productinformation 315. Other information such as a product code 335, ageographic region code 340, etc. may also be selectively included. Someof the information presented in a coupon may selectively be encryptedfor subsequent decryption and/or display either by the software at acustomer's computer 5 or at a manufacturer/merchant environment 25. Inthis embodiment, the coupon is presented as an HTML document withappropriate links to some of its elements as described above. The couponmay be stored in other document types also, as appropriate. Rebates arealso structured similarly to coupons, and they typically contain all theelements described here for coupons.

In general, coupons and rebates dispensed by the system 15 may beselectively saved by customers for subsequent redemption. Saved couponsand rebates have an associated expiry date. The manufacturer/merchantenvironment 25 may choose not to honor coupons that have expired. In oneembodiment of the present invention, the manufacturer/merchantenvironment 25 interacts with the system 15 to determine if an expiredrebate or coupon should automatically be replaced by a newer one.

In another embodiment, the coupons and rebates being dispensed aregenerated in Extensible Markup Language (XML) format. The customer'scomputer may or may not be able to process such XML documents. If, forexample, the customer's browser cannot process the coupon information,then it does not display such information properly and gives thecustomer the option to save the coupon in the computer's 5 hard disk.Such XML coupons may not be processed by the manufacturer/merchantenvironment 25 either if the information systems at their web site arenot capable of processing XML based coupons. In such situations, the XMLbased coupons and other coupons that cannot be processed are returned tothe system 15 by the manufacturer/merchant environment 25 for processingand for redemption.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing exemplary components of the system foronline sales with automatic rebate and coupon redemption 15. The system15 includes a browsable catalog 480 through which customers can selectone or more products for purchasing, a search engine 485 for searchingfor specific products based on one or more criteria, an AuthenticationManager 405 for verifying the authenticity of coupons and rebatespresented to it for redemption, and a Dispenser 410 which dispensescoupons and rebates generated by a Generator 420. It also includes aCustomer Profile Manager 415 which is used to gather profile informationof customers and an optional Tracking Manager 425 that is used to trackuser buying patterns over a long term. An optional Statistics ReportingUnit 435 provides various statistical information to manufacturers andonline merchants periodically or on-demand.

When customers decide to purchase products from the system for onlinesales with automatic rebate and coupon redemption 15, a pricing manager470 provides pricing functionality that incorporates calculation ofprices based on several factors including available rebates and coupons.The pricing manager 470 also includes a credit card processing unit thatprocesses credit card based customer sales, and a sales support unitthat provides quote generation features. An order fulfillment manager475 provides information on available inventory of products. If aproduct purchased by a customer is not in stock or not stored locally atthe system for online sales with automatic rebate and coupon redemption15, the order fulfillment manager 475 makes it possible to purchase thatproduct from the manufacturer, distributors or merchants. Such purchasesare done in one of two ways—seamlessly where the customer does notrealize that the product is being acquired from a manufacturer ormerchant 460, or explicitly where the customer is aware of theparticipation of a manufacturer or merchant in the fulfillment of hispurchase order.

Online Customers 450 access the system 15 over the connection 455. Theycan browse through the online browsable catalog of products and services480 or search for a specific product or service based on criteria suchas product category, geographical region, brand names, etc.Manufacturers and Online Merchants 460 access the system 15 over theconnection 465.

In one embodiment of the present invention, when providing access tocustomers who want to download coupons and rebates, the system 15contains a browsable indexed selection software making it easy for thecustomer to locate or search the required coupon or rebate. It alsoprovides vectors to advertising placed by manufacturers or onlinemerchants located either at the web server 20 or at an external webserver. In addition, it can provide vectors to sales points such asonline merchants or electronic malls where the associated products maybe available for sale if it is not currently available for sale at thesystem for online sales with automatic rebate and coupon redemption 15.Moreover, the dispensed coupons and rebates can be automaticallyincorporated into the pricing logic of a merchant or manufacturer'selectronic commerce system to which the system 15 provides links forcustomer access.

In a similar embodiment of the present invention, coupon verification isperformed by the electronic commerce software of the manufacturer oronline merchant to which a customer migrates to from the browsableindexed coupon selection software, along with a coupon and/or rebate forone or more products. This implies that a customer can consummate apurchase of a product at a merchant or manufacturer's e-commerce sitefollowing the selection of a coupon or rebate from the system 15 andsubsequent vectoring with a coupon and/or rebate to the e-commerce site.

The system 15 provides a circular path for identifying the users ofdispensed coupons and rebates when coupons previously downloaded bycustomers are returned by online merchants or manufacturers forredemption. Thus, buying habits and patterns of coupon access ofindividual customers can be determined. Such information may be used inthe generation of appropriate coupons for individual customers as wellas for creating marketing plans by online merchants and manufacturers.

Downloaded coupons may be printed as bar-coded coupons by customers forsubsequent redemption at traditional neighborhood merchant shops. Theprinting is facilitated by a print engine that is either available atthe customer's computer or can be easily downloaded to the customer'scomputer. The same is true for coupons and rebates emailed to customersby the system 15 as part of a “targeted coupons dispensing activity” inwhich individual customers are targeted to receive appropriate couponsbased upon their shopping behavior, as determined by system for onlinesales with automatic rebate and coupon redemption 15. Automatictargeting of customers by the system 15 is based on customer's buyinghabits, current marketing promotions, etc., via for e.g., electronicmail (email). Customers have the ability to redeem them without havingto print it, as is typically done for purchases from online merchants.

In one embodiment, the system 15 provides credit to customers forcoupons redeemed by the customers. It subsequently dispenses furthercoupons to those customers based on their credits earned. Such couponsmay be used by the customers either for further online purchases or forpurchases at a traditional store. In addition, coupons are obtained at atraditional neighborhood store redeemable during the customer's nextonline purchase. Such coupons are redeemed by customers during onlinepurchases where they are provided with the opportunity to specifyinformation about the coupons.

Coupons typically have an associated expiry date. Vendors assign expirydates to not only the advertisements of products but also for theirassociated coupons. While browsing the web server 20 for products andcoupons, when customers are presented with an advertisement, they arealso presented with a coupon for it. A displayed advertisement vectorsseamlessly, via a link, to an associated manufacturer's or merchant'sonline information website. If a customer activates such a link to aonline merchant's e-commerce site, if necessary, in order to facilitatethe expected sale. Information carried by the coupon(s) may be employedby pricing and quote generation components of a merchant's e-commercesoftware.

In general, the system 15 integrates with sales force automation (SFA)software employed by manufacturers and merchants. It also integrateswith e-commerce platforms that provide multi-vendor sales. For themulti-vendor platforms where similar products from multiple vendors areavailable for sale, the system 15 selectively dispenses “generic”coupons that will apply towards a product from any of the participatingvendors. Such generic coupons may be provided to a customer along with avendor-supplied coupon, if any.

In one embodiment of the present invention, information related to thegeographical location of a customer is selectively used by system 15 indetermining the type and/or value of coupon to dispense. For example, amanufacturer may desire to provide coupons of different value and expirydates for the same product in different sales regions. The system 15makes it possible to customize the different attributes of a coupon suchas its value, expiry date etc. to specific geographical zones or tospecific user types. For example, a corporate customer may be provided adifferent coupon from those provided to non-corporate customers.

The system 15 optionally charges manufacturers and online merchants forits services. These charges may be levied by one of several differentmethods, some of them related to the number of customers who downloadcoupons, some related to the number of customers who redeem thosecoupons, and others related to both these attributes. For example, localsmall businesses may provide a coupon and they are charged based on thenumber of coupons accessed or redeemed.

The system 15 captures the list of people who access it and downloadcoupons. The local small businesses that employ the services of thesystem 15 pay a charge based on such a list. They can also update theircoupons automatically via an interface to the coupon generationcomponent of the system for online sales with automatic rebate andcoupon redemption 15.

To facilitate location of a coupon for a product by a customer, in oneembodiment, the system 15 provides a web interface where coupons arecategorized into different product categories and a customer browses,using a web browser, through categories and sub-categories of productsto locate one or more coupons. The system 15 also categorizes coupons bymanufacturers and merchants. If a customer purchases one or moreproducts on the system for online sales with automatic rebate and couponredemption 15, the rebates and coupons, if any, are automaticallyapplied to the final price for the customer.

Internet portals, such as Yahoo, and Internet web services, such asInternet service providers (ISPs), can provide an automatic connectionto the system for online sales with automatic rebate and couponredemption 15, so as to provide their readers information on availablecoupons on one or more products associated with the currently displayedweb page. Such coupon related links or information is displayed in oneof the frames displayed on the customer's web browser. Alternatively,these portals can route web browsers automatically to the system 15 toretrieve associated coupons if necessary, say in a pop-up screen (orframe) automatically created by the currently visible web-page providedby the portal. Thus, readers of web content provided by web page hostsand portals can retrieve coupons while they browse product information.

To facilitate the creation of coupons by manufacturers and onlinemerchants, the system 15 provides canned images and coupon frames basedon category that may be further customized by manufacturers and onlinemerchants to suit their needs.

Customers search for coupons by category and region. In general, fourtypes of coupons are supported, coupons from retailer, coupons fromdistributors, coupons from manufacturer, and coupons from managers ofpoint of sale devices. Other types of coupons can be easilyincorporated.

The online nature of the coupon system provided by system 15 makes itpossible for merchants and manufacturers to devise a coupon basedmarketing and sales strategy where the expiry date, and the volume ofcoupons in a marketing campaign are dynamically adjusted to meet goals.For example, current sales volume might determine changes to couponsvalue and for expiry date. It would be possible to stop couponsassociated with a marketing campaign if sales targets are met. It wouldalso be possible to yank out a coupon based marketing campaign ifnecessary.

The success of a rebate and/or coupon based marketing and sales campaigncan be dynamically and frequently ascertained. Automatic reports oncoupon distribution and the redemption rates of coupons are provided tothe manufacturers and merchants by the system for online sales withautomatic rebate and coupon redemption 15.

Identity of potential customers who access coupons and those who redeemthem are maintained by the system for online sales with automatic rebateand coupon redemption 15. Such customer related information can later beused for mass mailing/distribution of coupons. Manufacturers andmerchants provide information on their mass mailing needs and system 15mails (or emails) coupons based on those needs and on online customerinformation collected automatically. Once coupons are mailed topotential customers, they are tracked to see if they are ever redeemed.Tracking of mailed coupons provides information related to the efficacyof sales and marketing strategy employed.

If a new product is being released by a manufacturer, the system 15 isused to setup, manage and monitor promotional activities based oncoupons and/or rebates. The time frame for such promotional activities,the number of coupons and/or rebates to be dispensed, the duration andtime frame for the promotional activities, etc., are set by themanufacturer using the promotional server 505 of FIG. 5. Themanufacturer may modify the parameters of the coupons and/or rebates(such as coupon or rebate amount, the quantity, the duration, theapplicable products, etc.) based on a preset threshold quantity ofdispensed coupons or rebates, based on monitored sales activities, etc.

The system 15 can be used to adaptably move inventory by managing theamount and quantity of rebates and coupons. Therefore, the system 15incorporates inventory tracking, coupon and rebate amount management,marketing activities, sales tracking and other business functions so asto make it possible to not only create promotional material but also tomanage/modify the promotional activities based on buyer response to suchpromotional activities.

The system 15 makes it possible to integrate coupon delivery withsoftware registration and product surveys. Customers who buy and installsoftware are often reluctant to register them with the vendor. Thissituation is true for other types of products too. In order to providean incentive for registration of products, the manufacturers or vendorsof such products can integrate the system 15 with the registrationprocess so that customers might be enticed with coupons for their nextpurchase.

The system 15 also provides support for the retrieval of coupons forproducts to be purchased at neighborhood stores. Such retrieved couponsare printed on laser printers and taken by the customers to the storesfor redemption during a purchase.

An advantage of incorporating a coupon authenticator component in thesystem 15 is the ability to verify if a coupon has already beenredeemed. This makes it possible to enforce a redemption rule of onecoupon per customer. Copies of a redeemed coupon are disallowed, ifnecessary. Customers can be informed when a coupon is being reused. Forexample, they can be told to get newer ones rather than use old ones.

In one embodiment, coupons or rebates that have expired areautomatically exchanged with newer ones. If necessary, a 24-hour graceperiod may be permitted for redemption of coupons to account for timezones too.

FIG. 5 is a perspective diagram of an online sales environment 503comprising a promotional server 505 that facilitates: management ofpromotional material by manufacturers, retailers and distributors via anissuer's web client 509; participation in online promotional sales bynon-seller web servers 513, affiliated seller's web and applicationserver 517 and third-party seller's web and application server 521;integration of credit card companies 529; and registration by buyers viabuyer's web client 511. The promotional server 505 is selectively usedby issuer's of promotional material such as coupons, rebates, etc.: tocreate and manage promotional material (in real time or in non-realtime) that are applicable to online and offline sales; to provide anonline coupon and rebate redemption service that is integrated withtheir own online sales systems or with online sales system managed byany other third parties; and to collect/retrieve information related toonline sales and the efficacy of their online promotions.

Online buyer's register with the promotional server 505, via buyer's webclient 511, in order to: automatically register products purchasedonline with the manufacturers, for warranties and other services, withthe help of the promotional server 505; receive refunds due to the buyerfrom the application of coupons and/or rebates to online purchasesconsummated by buyer on third-party seller's web and application server521; and to receive information on product information, sales,discounts, product recall, etc. via email or by other mechanisms.

The promotional server 505 hosts promotional offer posting from aplurality of issuers. The issuers may be manufacturers of goods,providers of services, distributors of manufactured goods, onlineretailers, etc. The promotional offer postings hosted by the promotionalserver 505 are coupons, rebates, etc. Promotional offer postings aregoverned by parameters such as the manufacturer, the associated product,the monetary amount of the promotional offer, the quantity of thepromotional offer, the time frame, and any other parameters that maygovern promotions. The issuers have the ability to manipulate theseparameters using the issuer's web client 509. They also have the abilityto create promotional offer postings 507, manage them and manipulate theassociated parameters via an issuer's direct application interface 527.

In one embodiment, the promotional offer posting 507 comprises a portalthat lists a plurality of promotions such as coupons, rebates, etc. Thepromotions are categorized based on types of goods and services beingsold through the various seller's web servers. A search engine is alsoprovided to assist in locating specific promotions from the plurality.For example, the buyer through the web client 511 might browse to findthe available coupons and rebates for a hand held computer under thegeneral category of computer systems. Alternatively, the buyer mightenter the terms “hand-held computer” to direct a search through all ofthe plurality of promotions to find promotions matching such terms.

This search engine may also be used to supplement other search enginesof sellers, portals, etc. For example, on a first search engine, a buyermay enter search terms which are used to search a corresponding databasefor information, goods or services that are offered for sale. Suchsearch terms are also used by the promotional server 505 to search theplurality of promotions stored therein. Alternatively, the plurality ofpromotions may also be stored in/along with the first search engine forsearching through the first search engine.

Typically, promotional offer postings are visually presented to allusers that invoke an associated “promotional element” on a web pageprovided by non-seller web servers 513, affiliated seller's web andapplication server 517 and third-party seller's web and applicationserver 521. However, some promotional offer postings are selectivelyprovided based on criteria specified by issuers. Such criteria mayinclude the number of past purchases of the same or similar products byindividual buyers, the random selection of recipients of specificpromotional material by non-seller web servers 513, affiliated seller'sweb and application server 517 and third-party seller's web orapplication server 521, etc.

Buyers have the option of registering with the promotional server 505over the Internet using the buyer's web client 511. During such onlineregistration process, the buyer provides personal information and creditcard information that are stored by the promotional server 505. Thebuyer's personal information is selectively used by the promotionalserver 505 to: register products subsequently purchased by the buyerwith the associated manufacturer; inform the buyer about productrecalls, etc.; selectively forward promotional material to the buyer viaemail; selectively enhance the value of promotional offer postings tospecific buyers or to specific category of buyers; etc.

In general, the promotional server 505 employs several differentprocesses to participate in the consummation of online sales, dependingupon the nature of integration of the services offered by thepromotional server 505 with the services offered by other online salessystems such as the non-seller web servers 513, affiliated seller's weband application server 517 and third-party seller's web and applicationserver 521. The specific process employed by the promotional server 505also determines the approach by which a buyer redeems the amountassociated with a coupon or rebate. For example, in one embodiment, ifthe buyer consummates an online purchase at the affiliated seller's weband application server 517, the promotional server 505: reimburses theaffiliated seller's web and application server 517 or its associatedmerchant account, either immediately or in deferred mode, for the amountof the coupon or rebate exercised by the buyer towards the buyer'spurchase; conducts transactions with the issuer(s) of the coupon(s) orrebate(s), in real time or in deferred mode, to redeem the amount of theassociated coupons or rebates; selectively charges the issuers (such asmanufacturers providing rebates) for services rendered (such as thoserendered during the buyer's transactions); selectively registersproducts with associated manufacturers for tech support and warrantypurposes; and selectively updates buyer's profile, if necessary, withthe purchase related information.

The affiliated seller's web and application server 517 is more tightlyintegrated with the promotional server 505 than is the third-partyseller's web and application server 521. This makes it possible for thepromotional server 505 to interact in more than one way with theaffiliated seller's web and application server 517 in completing abuyer's online purchases. For example, in one embodiment, the affiliatedseller's web and application server 517 charges the buyer only for theactual purchase price taking into account any and all rebates or couponsthat may apply towards the buyer's purchases, and in turn conducts atransaction with the promotional server 505 to recover the amount ofcoupon or rebate that is not charged to the customer. The promotionalserver later interacts with one or more associated issuer to recover thecost of the coupons or rebates redeemed by the buyer. Such interactionis selectively conducted in online interactive mode with issuers or in abatch or deferred mode.

In another embodiment, the affiliated seller's web and applicationserver 517 charges the buyer only for the actual purchase price takinginto account any and all rebates or coupons that may apply towards thebuyer's purchases and recover such amounts associated with the appliedcoupons and rebates later from the promotional server 505 by billing thepromotional server for those amounts. In a variant of this approach, theaffiliated seller's web and application server 517 informs thepromotional server 505 of all rebates and coupons redeemed by its onlinebuyers and the promotional server 505 deposits money, such as viaelectronic fund transfers, to any bank account associated or managed bythe affiliated seller's web and application server 517.

In another embodiment, the affiliated seller's web and applicationserver 517 retrieves a registered user's profile from the promotionalserver to present the buyer, using the buyer's web client 539, with aset of coupons and rebates tailored to the buyer's interest based on thebuyer's profile.

The non-seller web server 513 typically carries promotional offerposting 515 that typically provide a vector to associated web pageshosted by the promotional server 505. By activating the promotionaloffer posting 515 on web pages provided by the non-seller web server513, the buyer can migrate to online sales related web pages provided bythe promotional server 505 and purchase associated products, while alsoavailing of rebates and/or coupons associated with the purchasedproduct(s). In completing the online sales transaction with the buyer,the promotional server 505: prompts the buyer for credit-cardinformation and shipping information if the buyer is not a registeredbuyer; retrieves coupon or rebate amount for the product(s) selected bybuyer; applies all coupons and rebates retrieved for the purchasedproducts; selectively interacts with a credit card processing service531 or credit card company 529 in order to process buyer's credit cardinformation; selectively interacts with the issuer of associatedpromotional offer posting to inform issuer of sales related information;and selectively interacts with the issuer to charge the issuer forservices provided during the sale.

The third-party seller's web and application server 521, although not asintegrated with the services provided by the promotional server 505 asthe affiliated seller's web and application server 517, interacts withthe promotional server 505 to inform the promotional server details ofthe buyer's online purchases, such as the identification and quantity ofthe products purchased by the buyer along with buyer information such asthe buyer's address or bank account, while charging the buyer for thefull amount for the products purchased without immediately applying thecoupons and rebates, if any. The promotional server 505 later sends acheck to the buyer via post or transfers money to the buyer's bankaccount or credit card account if such buyer information is provided bythe third-party seller's web and application server 521.

In one embodiment, the interaction between the promotional server 505and the issuer's is in real time. Such interaction is typicallyfacilitated by integration software on the issuer's system 525. Thepromotional server 505 conducts transactions with the integrationsoftware on the issuer's system 525 to send information on redeemedcoupons and/or rebates to the issuer and to achieve reimbursement forcoupons and rebates honored by the promotional server 505.

In another embodiment, the promotional server 505 communicates a list ofcoupons and rebates honored by buyers to one or more issuer's and theissuer's, in turn, transfer reimbursements associated with thoseredeemed coupons and rebates to the promotional server 505. Suchreimbursements may be conducted employing money transfer into anestablished bank account or by other means such as electronic fundtransfer, checks, etc. The communication between the promotional server505 and the issuer's systems, such as the integration software on theissuer's system 525 or the issuer's direct application interface 527,regarding redeemed coupons and rebates may be conducted in interactivemode in real time, in non-interactive mode in real time, in batch modein deferred mode, batch mode in real-time, etc.

In one embodiment, a buyer, using the buyer's web client 541, interactswith the third-party seller's web and application server 521 to conductonline purchases. The third-party seller's web and application server521 charges the buyer the full amount on the purchased productsincluding the amount on the rebates and coupons, if any rebate or couponare associated with the purchased products, but displays the amount ofcoupons and/or rebates that will be reimbursed to them. Such charges aremade to the credit card account provided by the buyer to the third-partyseller's web and application server 521. The third-party seller's weband application server 521 then interacts with the promotional server505 to communicate details of the online purchases made by the buyer andbuyer information, including the buyer's credit card accountinformation. The promotional server 505 then reimburses the buyer thetotal of all the coupons and/or rebates that apply to the buyer'spurchases by conducting a transaction with the credit card processingservice 531 or the credit card company/companies 529. Such reimbursementtransactions with the credit card processing service 531 or the creditcard company companies 529 are selectively conducted in real-time or indeferred mode after batching one or more buyer redemptions.

In one embodiment, the third-party seller's web and application server521 does not provide any indication of the completion of a buyer'sonline purchase to the promotional server 505. Instead, the promotionalserver 505 determines the completion of online purchase by the buyerfrom the third-party seller's web and application server 521 anddetermines the buyer information details and details of productspurchased from sales completion document made available to the buyerfrom the third-party seller's web and application server 521. Such salescompletion document may be an online purchase order provided to thebuyer, or an online order tracking web page presented to the buyer.Other mechanisms for determining purchase order completion may beemployed by the promotional server to determine the completion of onlinepurchases by the buyer.

In one embodiment, manufacturers selectively use the promotional serveras a mechanism for providing up-sell information to buyers when buyers,using buyer's web client 537, 539, 541, access promotional offer posting515, 519, 523 located at non-seller web servers 513, affiliated seller'sweb and application server 517 and third-party seller's web andapplication server 521, respectively.

In another embodiment of the present invention, when a buyer, using oneof buyer's web clients 537, 539, 541, accesses a specific promotionaloffer posting such as a coupon or rebate presented by the non-seller webservers 513, the affiliated seller's web and application server 517 orthe third-party seller's web and application server 521, respectively,the buyer is presented with a list of promotional material for otherproducts that the buyer is deemed to be interested in by the promotionalserver 505. Such a list of promotional material may include: promotionalmaterials for other similar products by the same manufacturer;promotional materials that belong to the same category of products asthe one the buyer initially evinced interest in; promotional materialsfor only those products that the associated manufacturer considersrelevant to the buyer; promotional material for all competing orassociated products from the same or different manufacturers; orpromotional material determined to be useful to the buyer by theindividual web servers 513, 517, 521.

In one embodiment, the buyer, using the affiliated seller's web andapplication server 517, the buyer can assemble a shopping cart ofproducts that is presented and maintained by the affiliated seller's weband application server 517. The buyer can then request the affiliatedseller's web and application server 517 to extract all applicablecoupons and rebates to the shopping cart. The affiliated seller's weband application server 517 interacts with the promotional server 505 toextract all applicable coupons and rebates for the buyer's shoppingcart. It then applies the extracted coupons and rebates to the shoppingcart.

In another embodiment, the buyer, using the buyer's web client 537,assembles a shopping cart with online products at a different onlinesales web server than the affiliated seller's web and application server517 and then transfers the shopping cart to the promotional server 505to extract all applicable coupons and rebates. The transfer of theshopping cart by the buyer to the promotional server 505 is implementedin one of several ways: by the transfer of an XML file to thepromotional server 505 via an HTTP connection to the promotional server505; by uploading shopping cart information stored in a file or inmemory at the client computer to the promotional server 505 via uploadweb pages provided by the promotional server; by sending a shopping cartin an email to the promotional server, the shopping cart represented asan XML document or as some other structured document; or by other commontechniques to transfer a shopping cart to the promotional server 505. Abuyer may choose to retrieve applicable coupons and rebates based ontheir current shopping cart contents by interacting with the promotionalserver 505 via the affiliated seller's web and application server 517 orvia the third-party seller's web and application server 521. In bothcases, the promotional server facilitates the automatic redemption ofrebates and coupons that can apply towards the buyer's online purchases.In some embodiments, the buyer is unaware of the promotional server 505and presumes the automatic redemption of rebates and coupons to beprovided by the web server that the buyer conducts his purchases from.

In a multi-functional embodiment of FIG. 5, the promotional server 505supports multiple processing approaches for facilitating promotionredemption. When a buyer attempts to purchase a good or service on athird-party seller's web and application server 521, the third-partyseller's web and application server 521 receives full payment for thegood or service offered. If the buyer's account supports charge-back,then the promotional server 505 will charge-back the promotional amountto the buyer's account after the buyer has completed the purchase forthe entire sales price. Otherwise, the promotional server 505 will paythe third-party seller's web and application server 521 the full salesprice itself and charge the buyer's account for the sales price less thepromotional amount. In either case, the promotional server 505 willcharge the issuer's account for the promotional amount.

Service charges can be applied to the issuer, or the issuer's account,buyer's account, and/or to the third-party seller's web and applicationserver 521. Such surcharge (service charges) can be used to collectvalue for services rendered by the promotional server 505. In addition,the issuer and/or the buyer may pay more than the promotional amountand/or sales price less the promotional amount, respectively, as anincentive to the buyer and/or the seller.

In such interaction, the third-party seller's web and application server521 need not be aware of the issuer's promotion amount. Even if aware,the third-party seller's web and application server 521 need not accountfor the promotion amount of the issuer in the offering price of theitem. In either case, however, the promotional server 505 identifieswhen the transaction for the promoted item has been completed.

Similarly, a buyer interacts through the promotional server 505 and theaffiliated seller's web and application server 517 to purchase a goodand exercise a promotion. This is accomplished by making two accounttransactions with the affiliated seller's web and application server517. Specifically, the buyer's account is used to pay the sales priceless the promotion amount, while the issuer's account is used to pay thepromotion amount.

The promotional server 505 also supports full payment of the sales priceof an item by the issuer's account. When so charged, the promotionalserver 505 will assist in the payment from the buyer's account to theissuer for the purchase price less the promotion amount. Of course,surcharges and incentives might also be applied in such transactions.

The buyer's account may comprise an account such as a credit card orbank account that is independent of the promotional server.Alternatively, the buyer's account may be a credit or deposit accountmanaged directly by the promotional server. Similarly, the issuer'saccount might be a credit or deposit account managed directly by thepromotional server. Promotional server may bill an issuer and/or buyer'saccount on a monthly basis or charge the issuer and/or buyer's accountimmediately.

The promotional server 505 can perform credit or account processingdirectly through the processing service 531 or allow such processing tobe performed by the servers 517 and 521 via the corresponding services533 and 535.

In another embodiment the promotional server 505 constructs apromotional offer posting 507 from a plurality of issuers of promotionsand corresponding sales information retrieved from a seller or theseller's web and application server. A buyer browses (by category) orsearches the sales information in the promotional offer posting 507 toidentify an item for purchasing. Upon receiving a purchase request forsuch item from the buyer, the promotional server 505 charges the buyer'saccount for the sales price less the promotional amount, then uses thepromotional server's account (which may be set up by the issuer orthrough contributions from the issuer, for example) to pay the fullsales price directly to the seller. Although, tighter integration may beused, the promotional server 505 need only deliver its accountinformation, buyer's shipping information and the sales item(s)information to the non-integrated seller's online sales system. Theseller's system need not distinguish this interaction with traditionalonline sales interaction with a buyer without promotions.

FIG. 6 is a flow diagram illustrating rebate processing functionality ofone embodiment of the present invention. Specifically, at a block 609, aseller offers an item online for sale at a sales price amount. At ablock 613, a manufacturer's rebate having a rebate amount is associatedwith the item. A purchase request from a buyer for the item beingoffered online is received at a block 617. In response, at a block 621,a buyer is required to pay a purchase amount corresponding to the salesprice amount less the rebate amount for the item.

Of course, there are many variations and further processingfunctionality that may be applied to this process. For example, thepurchase amount may comprise the sales price amount less the rebateamount, and may further comprise a service charge amount. The purchaseamount may also comprise an amount lower than the sales price amount,and greater than the sales price amount less the rebate amount.

The manufacturer may also control the rebate. This may involve adjustinga rebate parameter or canceling the rebate. Rebate parameters mayinclude, for example, a rebate amount, quantity of rebates offered,rebate offering time frame, rebate terms and conditions, goods orservices associated with the rebate, particular sellers to which therebate applies, manufacturer and/or distributors involved, the issuer,automatic thresholds and conditions under which other rebate parameterswill change, passwords and other account information regarding theissuer or other parties involved, etc.

In certain embodiments, associated with the block 621, the purchaseamount is electronically collected by the seller. The purchase amountmay comprise the sales price amount less the rebate amount plus aservice charge amount. Similarly, the manufacturer may be electronicallycharged at least the rebate amount, which may consist of the rebateamount plus a service charge amount. At least a portion of the servicecharge amount, if not all, may be distributed to the seller. Similarly,at least a portion of the service charge amount, if not all, may bedistributed to a promotional system for services rendered.

An account of the buyer is charged the purchase amount in the block 621,in some embodiments. At least a portion of the charged amount may bedirectly delivering to the seller. In such configurations, the chargingmay be performed via a promotional system. Alternatively, the buyer'saccount may be charged an amount corresponding to the sales price amountand credited an amount corresponding to the rebate amount. The purchaseamount may include a service charge amount that is also charged to thebuyer's account. In various embodiments, the buyer interacts online tocause payment to the seller of the sales price amount less the rebateamount, and the manufacturer electronically pays the rebate amount tothe seller. A manufacturer's account may be used for paying at least therebate amount. The manufacturer's account may be established inassociation with a promotional system or independently. Such paymentsmay be performed directly or via a promotional system.

In Internet applications, a web server may be used to deliver themanufacturer's rebate to a browser of the buyer. The manufacturer'srebate may comprise one of a plurality of manufacturer's rebatesdelivered by the web server. The web server may operate as at least apart of a promotional system, a seller's system, an affiliate's systemor a third party's system. In any case, the system may comprise a rebatesystem offering or supporting only promotional items for sale.

Other extensions of the present invention involve the selection of apotential buyer and delivering a manufacturer's rebate to the selectedbuyer. Among other traditional delivery infrastructures, delivery may beperformed via email. Selection of the potential buyer may be based onthe previous purchase history of the selected buyer and/or registrationinformation. The manufacturer through human interaction may make suchselection with information regarding each potential buyer, orautomatically pursuant to a manufacturer's defined set of filteringcriteria. More than one manufacturer's rebate may be sent to theselected buyer.

The present invention also supports shopping cart interaction. Shoppingcarts, or logical equivalents thereof, may contain the item for sale andat least one other item for sale. The promotional system may identifythe item in the shopping cart. After identifying the sales item, thepurchase request may be responded to.

A visual rebate element may be displayed for a buyer. The element willtypically contain at least one of the plurality of rebate parameters.The visual rebate element can be involved in the association of therebate with the item for sale. Third party systems may offer for abuyer's selection one or more visual rebate elements. The elements mayalso direct the buyer to an item for sale on a sales system of theseller. Visual rebate elements can be banner ads or otheradvertisements, for example. Visual rebate elements may also direct thebuyer to other of the plurality of rebate parameters.

In some implementations, the seller will not fulfill a purchase requestwithout receiving an amount corresponding to the purchase amount and therebate amount. The language “corresponding to” (as used herein andthroughout the application) attempts to clarify that any such amountneed not be exact. For example, a seller may fulfill the purchaserequest by receiving the purchase amount plus the rebate amount but lessor plus a surcharge (e.g., for service rendered). Such surcharge may beapplied through the payment of the purchase amount, the rebate amount,both the purchase and the rebate amounts, or along with both amounts ifthe charges are paid to the seller in one transaction, etc. Therefore,the use of the language “corresponding to” anticipates that the exactamounts need not be paid to accomplish the payment purpose.

FIG. 7 is a flow diagram illustrating coupon processing functionality ofanother embodiment of the present invention. Such processing may operateindependently of rebate processing or may operate together in a singlesystem along with other promotional functionality. At a block 709, afirst party, such as a seller, offers one or more items online for sale,each item having a sales price amount. A coupon of a second party isassociated with at least one of the sales items at a block 713. Apurchase request from a buyer for the item being offered online isreceived at a block 717. In response, a buyer is required to pay apurchase amount corresponding to the sales price amount less the couponamount for the item, at a block 721. At a block 725, the second partyelectronically pays to the first party an amount corresponding to thecoupon amount.

As with the rebate processing functionality, there are many variationsand further functionality that may be applied to such coupon processing.In fact, the aforementioned variations and further functionality of therebate processing described with reference to FIG. 6 can be applied tothe coupon embodiment of FIG. 7. For example, the purchase amount maycomprise the sales price amount less the rebate amount and include aservice charge amount, either party may control the coupon and couponparameters (which parallel that of rebates), payments of the purchaseamount and coupon amounts may be electronically made to the first party,buyer and third party accounts may be used, etc. Similarly, in Internetapplications, a web server may be used to deliver a coupon from one ormore coupons stored on the web server to a buyer's browser. The webserver may operate as at least a part of a promotional system, a firstparty's system, a second party's system, an affiliate's system or athird party's system. In any case, the system may comprise a systemsupporting coupon processing alone or in combination with otherpromotional activities such as rebates. Many other extensions of thepresent invention as applied to coupon processing can be found above inrelation to the processing of rebates as described above with referenceto FIG. 6.

FIG. 8 is a flow diagram illustrating the application of various aspectsof the present invention to any promotional processing functionalityincluding that of rebate and coupon processing. Generally, at a block809, a first party, such as a seller, offers one or more items onlinefor sale, each item having a sales price amount. A promotion of a secondparty is associated with at least one of the sales items at a block 813.A purchase request from a buyer for the item being offered online isreceived at a block 817. In response, a buyer is required to pay apurchase amount corresponding to the sales price amount less thepromotion amount for the item, at a block 821. At a block 825, thesecond party electronically pays to the first party an amountcorresponding to the promotion amount. Then, at a block 825, the firstparty fulfills the purchase request after receiving an amountcorresponding to the purchase amount and the payment amount.

As with the rebate and coupon systems (which constitute promotionalsystems) described in reference to FIGS. 6 and 7, respectively theaforementioned variations and further functionality can be applied tothe general case promotional embodiment of FIG. 8.

FIG. 9 is a flow diagram illustrating the application of various aspectsof the present invention to any promotional processing wherein thepromotion may involve more than a discount off a purchase price. Inparticular, at a block 909, a first party (a “promoter”) offers one ormore items online for sale. A promotion of a second party is associatedwith at least one of the sales items at a block 913. A purchase requestfrom a buyer for the item being offered online is received at a block917. In response, a buyer is required to pay a purchase amountcorresponding to the sales price amount for the item, at a block 921.Thereafter, at a block 925, the first party receives an indication thatthe payment occurred. At a block 929, the first party delivers thepromotion value to the buyer.

In some embodiments, the delivery of the promotion value will only occurafter at least one promotion condition has been met. For example, thepromotion condition may require that several of the items offered forsale is purchased; and/or such items are purchased simultaneously orwithin a fixed time period. Many other types of promotion conditions maybe applied which parallel traditional promotional techniques.

Nearly all of the aforementioned variations and further functionalitydescribed with reference to FIGS. 6-8 applies to the present embodimentillustrated in FIG. 9. Further, the functionality of FIGS. 6-9 may becombined into a single system to support all types of promotions withboth price discounting and non-price value offerings.

With reference to the above-described figures, a method of processing amanufacturer's rebate may comprise, for example, the following. Amanufacturer associates a rebate with an item, where the rebate has arebate amount. A seller offers the item online for sale at a sales priceamount that does not account for the rebate of the manufacturer. Apurchase request for the item being offered online is received from abuyer. The purchase request is then responded to by requiring the buyerto only pay a purchase amount corresponding to the sales price amountless the rebate amount for the item.

The purchase amount may be, for example, the sales price amount less therebate amount. In addition, the purchase amount may also include aservice charge amount. The purchase amount may alternatively be, forexample, an amount lower than the sales price amount, but greater thanthe sales price amount less the rebate amount.

In one embodiment, the manufacturer may control the rebate. For example,the rebate amount or a parameter of the rebate may be adjusted, or therebate may be disassociated from the item for sale altogether.

The seller may also electronically collect the purchase amount, whichagain may be, for example, the sales price amount less the rebate amountplus a service charge amount.

In addition, the manufacturer may be electronically charged at least therebate amount, which may comprise, for example, the rebate amount plus aservice charge amount. A portion of the service charge amount mayfurther be provided to the seller. Also, at least a portion of theservice charge amount may be provided for services rendered by apromotion system.

In one embodiment, an account of the buyer is charged for the purchaseamount. In this case, at least a portion of the charged amount may alsobe provided to the seller. The charging of the buyer's account may beperformed, for example, via a promotion system.

When the buyer's account is charged an amount corresponding to the salesprice amount less the rebate amount, the account may also be creditedfor an amount corresponding to the rebate amount. In addition, when thepurchase amount includes a service charge amount, the buyer's accountmay additionally be charged for the service charge amount.

In one embodiment, the buyer may interact online to cause payment to theseller of an amount corresponding to the sales price amount less therebate amount. The manufacturer may then electronically pay the rebateamount to the seller. Such paying may be performed directly or via apromotional system.

In one embodiment, an account may be established for the manufacturerfor paying at least the rebate amount. Such payment may be assisted by apromotion system. The account established for the manufacturer may beassociated with the promotional system or be independent of thepromotion system.

The method may also comprise delivering, by a web server, the rebate toa browser of the buyer. Such rebate may be one of a plurality of rebatesdelivered by the web server. The web server may be that of a promotionsystem or a system of the seller. When it is a system of the seller, thesystem may be an affiliate system, a non-seller system or a rebatesystem offering only promotional items for sale. In fact, in eithercase, the system may be a rebate type system offering only promotionalitems.

The method may also comprise selecting a potential buyer, and deliveringthe rebate to the selected buyer. Such delivery may be performed, forexample, via email. The selection may be, for example, based on aprevious purchase history of the selected buyer or on a registration ofthe selected buyer. The manufacturer, for example, may perform theselection.

The method may further comprise delivering the rebate to a selectedbuyer with at least one other of the manufacturer's rebates. Also, ashopping cart containing the item for sale and at least one other itemfor sale may be constructed. A promotion system, for example, mayidentify the item in the shopping cart, and the response to the purchaserequest occurs after the item is identified.

In one embodiment, the rebate comprises a plurality of rebateparameters. At least one of the plurality of rebate parameters may bedisplayed within a visual rebate element. At least a portion of theassociating by the manufacturer of the rebate with the item may involvethe visual rebate element. A buyer may then select the visual rebateelement provided by a third party system (e.g., promotional system). Thebuyer may then be directed to the item on a sales system of the seller.In addition, the buyer may be directed to at least one of the pluralityof rebate parameters. The visual rebate element, may be, for example, abanner ad.

In one embodiment, the seller may wait to receive an amountcorresponding to the purchase amount and the rebate amount beforefulfilling the purchase request.

Alternatively, a method of processing a coupon may comprise, forexample, the following. A first party offers an item online for sale ata sales price amount. A coupon of a second party is associated with theitem, the coupon having a coupon amount. A purchase request is receivedfrom a buyer for the item being offered online. The purchase request isresponded to by requiring the buyer to pay a purchase amountcorresponding to the sales price amount less the coupon amount for theitem. And the second party electronically pays a payment amountcorresponding to the coupon amount to the first party.

The purchase amount may be, for example, the sales price amount less thecoupon amount. In addition, the purchase amount may also include aservice charge amount. The purchase amount may alternatively be, forexample, an amount lower than the sales price amount, but greater thanthe sales price amount less the coupon amount.

In one embodiment, the second party may control the coupon. For example,the coupon amount or a parameter of the coupon may be adjusted, or thecoupon may be cancelled altogether.

The first party may also electronically collect the purchase amount,which again may be, for example, the sales price amount less the couponamount plus a service charge amount.

In addition, the second party may be electronically charged at least thecoupon amount, which may comprise, for example, the coupon amount plus aservice charge amount. A portion of the service charge amount mayfurther be provided to the first party. Also, at least a portion of theservice charge amount may be provided for services rendered by apromotion system.

In one embodiment, an account of the buyer is charged for the purchaseamount. In this case, at least a portion of the charged amount may alsobe provided to the first party. The charging of the buyer's account maybe performed, for example, via a promotion system.

When the buyer's account is charged an amount corresponding to the salesprice amount less the coupon amount, the account may also be creditedfor an amount corresponding to the coupon amount. In addition, when thepurchase amount includes a service charge amount, the buyer's accountmay additionally be charged for the service charge amount.

In one embodiment, the buyer may interact online to cause payment to thefirst party of an amount corresponding to the sales price amount lessthe coupon amount. The second party may then electronically pay therebate amount to the first party. Such paying may be performed directlyor via a promotion system.

In one embodiment, an account may be established for the second partyfor paying at least the coupon amount. Such payment may be assisted by apromotion system. The account established for the second party may beassociated with the promotion system or be independent of the promotionsystem.

The method may also comprise delivering, by a web server, the coupon toa browser of the buyer. Such coupon may be one of a plurality of couponsdelivered by the web server. The web server may be that of a promotionsystem or a system of the first party. When it is a system of the firstparty, the system may be an affiliate system, a non-seller system or acoupon system offering only promotional items for sale. In fact, ineither case, the system may be a coupon type system offering onlypromotional items.

The method may also comprise selecting a potential buyer, and deliveringthe coupon to the selected buyer. Such delivery may be performed, forexample, via email. The selection may be, for example, based on aprevious purchase history of the selected buyer or on a registration ofthe selected buyer. The second party, for example, may perform theselection.

The method may further comprise delivering the coupon to a selectedbuyer with at least one other of the second party's coupons. Also, ashopping cart containing the item for sale and at least one other itemfor sale may be constructed. A promotion system, for example, mayidentify the item in the shopping cart, and the response to the purchaserequest occurs after the item is identified.

In one embodiment, the coupon comprises a plurality of couponparameters. At least one of the plurality of coupon parameters may bedisplayed within a visual coupon element. At least a portion of theassociating by the second party of the coupon with the item may involvethe visual coupon element. A buyer may then select the visual couponelement provided by a third party system (e.g., promotional system). Thebuyer may then be directed to the item on a sales system of the firstparty. In addition, the buyer may be directed to at least one of theplurality of coupon parameters. The visual coupon element, may be, forexample, a banner ad.

In one embodiment, the first party may wait to receive an amountcorresponding to the purchase amount and the coupon amount beforefulfilling the purchase request.

The method may alternatively comprise, for example, the following. Afirst party offers an item online for sale at a sales price amount. Apromotion of a second party is associated with the item, the promotionhaving a promotion amount. A purchase request is received from a buyerfor the item being offered online. The purchase request is responded toby requiring the buyer to pay a purchase amount corresponding to thesales price amount less the promotion amount for the item. The secondparty electronically pays a payment amount corresponding to thepromotion amount to the first party. And the first party receives anamount corresponding to the purchase amount and the payment amountbefore fulfilling the purchase request.

In one embodiment, the promotion is a rebate and in another thepromotion is a coupon. The purchase amount may be, for example, thesales price amount less the coupon amount. In addition, the purchaseamount may also include a service charge amount. The purchase amount mayalternatively be, for example, an amount lower than the sales priceamount, but greater than the sales price amount less the promotionamount.

In one embodiment, the second party may control the promotion. Forexample, the promotion amount or a parameter of the promotion may beadjusted, or the promotion may be cancelled altogether.

The first party may also electronically collect the purchase amount,which again may be, for example, the sales price amount less thepromotion amount plus a service charge amount. In other words, the firstparty may receive payment (e.g., the sales price amount less thepromotion amount) electronically.

In addition, the second party may be electronically charged at least thepromotion amount, which may comprise, for example, the promotion amountplus a service charge amount. A portion of the service charge amount mayfurther be provided to the first party. Also, at least a portion of theservice charge amount may be provided for services rendered by apromotion system.

In one embodiment, an account of the buyer is charged for the purchaseamount. In this case, at least a portion of the charged amount may alsobe provided to the first party. The charging of the buyer's account maybe performed, for example, via a promotion system.

When the buyer's account is charged an amount corresponding to the salesprice amount less the promotion amount, the account may also be creditedfor an amount corresponding to the promotion amount. In addition, whenthe purchase amount includes a service charge amount, the buyer'saccount may additionally be charged for the service charge amount.

In one embodiment, the buyer may interact online to cause payment to thefirst party of an amount corresponding to the sales price amount lessthe promotion amount. The second party may then electronically pay thepromotion amount to the first party. Such paying may be performeddirectly or via a promotion system.

In one embodiment, an account may be established for the second partyfor paying at least the promotion amount. Such payment may be assistedby a promotion system. The account established for the second party maybe associated with the promotion system or be independent of thepromotion system.

The method may also comprise delivering, by a web server, the promotionto a browser of the buyer. Such promotion may be one of a plurality ofpromotions delivered by the web server. The web server may be that of apromotional system or a system of the first party. When it is a systemof the first party, the system may be an affiliate system, a non-sellersystem or a promotion system offering only promotional items for sale.In fact, in either case, the system may be a promotion type systemoffering only promotional items.

The method may also comprise selecting a potential buyer, and deliveringthe promotion to the selected buyer. Such delivery may be performed, forexample, via email. The selection may be, for example, based on aprevious purchase history of the selected buyer or on a registration ofthe selected buyer. The second party, for example, may perform theselection.

The method may further comprise delivering the promotion to a selectedbuyer with at least one other of the second party's promotions. Also, ashopping cart containing the item for sale and at least one other itemfor sale may be constructed. A promotion system, for example, mayidentify the item in the shopping cart, and the response to the purchaserequest occurs after the item is identified.

In one embodiment, the coupon comprises a plurality of promotionparameters. At least one of the plurality of promotion parameters may bedisplayed within a visual promotion element. At least a portion of theassociating by the second party of the promotion with the item mayinvolve the visual promotion element. A buyer may then select the visualpromotion element provided by a third party system (e.g., promotionsystem). The buyer may then be directed to the item on a sales system ofthe first party. In addition, the buyer may be directed to at least oneof the plurality of promotion parameters. The visual promotion element,may be, for example, a banner ad.

Another method of processing a promotion may comprise the following. Apromotion of a second party is associated with an item, the promotionhaving a promotion value. A first party offers the item online for saleat a sales price amount without advertising the promotion of the secondparty. A purchase request is received from a buyer for the item beingoffered online The purchase request is responded to by requiring thebuyer to pay a purchase amount corresponding to the sales price amount.The buyer's payment is responded to by electronically communicating anindication of the buyer's payment to the second party. And the secondparty delivers the promotion value to the buyer after receiving theindication of the buyer's payment.

In one embodiment, the second party is a promotion system, which may ormay not be managed by a third party. The purchase amount may be, forexample, the sales price amount. In addition, the purchase amount mayalso include a service charge amount.

In one embodiment, the second party may control the promotion. Forexample, the promotion value or a parameter of the promotion may beadjusted, or the promotion may be cancelled altogether.

The promotion value may, for example, be delivered electronically. Inaddition, the second party may be electronically charged a servicecharge amount. A portion of the service charge amount may further beprovided to the first party. Also, at least a portion of the servicecharge amount may be provided for services rendered by a promotionsystem.

In one embodiment, an account of the buyer is charged for the purchaseamount. In this case, at least a portion of the charged amount may alsobe provided to the first party. In the case where the purchase amountincludes a service charge amount, the buyer's account may additionallybe charged for the service charge amount. The charging of the buyer'saccount may be performed, for example, via a promotion system.

In one embodiment, the buyer may interact online to cause payment to thefirst party of an amount corresponding to the sales price amount. Suchpaying may be performed directly or via a promotion system. Thedelivering of the promotion value may also be assisted by a promotionsystem.

The method may also comprise delivering, by a web server, the promotionto a browser of the buyer. Such promotion may be one of a plurality ofpromotions delivered by the web server. The web server may be that of apromotion system or a system of the first party. When it is a system ofthe first party, the system may be an affiliate system, a non-sellersystem or a promotion system offering only promotional items for sale.In fact, in either case, the system may be a promotion type systemoffering only promotional items.

The method may also comprise selecting a potential buyer, and deliveringthe promotion to the selected buyer. Such delivery may be performed, forexample, via email. The selection may be, for example, based on aprevious purchase history of the selected buyer or on a registration ofthe selected buyer. The second party, for example, may perform theselection.

The method may further comprise delivering the promotion to a selectedbuyer with at least one other of the second party's promotions. Also, ashopping cart containing the item for sale and at least one other itemfor sale may be constructed. A promotion system, for example, mayidentify the item in the shopping cart, and the response to the purchaserequest occurs after the item is identified.

In one embodiment, the coupon comprises a plurality of promotionparameters. At least one of the plurality of promotion parameters may bedisplayed within a visual promotion element. At least a portion of theassociating by the second party of the promotion with the item mayinvolve the visual promotion element. A buyer may then select the visualpromotion element provided by a third party system (e.g., promotionalsystem). The buyer may then be directed to the item on a sales system ofthe first party. In addition, the buyer may be directed to at least oneof the plurality of promotion parameters. The visual promotion element,may be, for example, a banner ad.

The method may alternatively comprise the following. An item is offeredfor sale on a first online system of a seller, where the first onlinesystem requires payment of a sales price amount for the item. Apromotion having a promotion amount is associated with the item. Apurchase request is received from a buyer for the item being offeredonline. The buyer is required to pay a purchase amount corresponding tothe sales price amount less the promotion amount for the item. A secondonline system electronically facilitates payment, through communicativecoupling with the first online system, of a payment amount correspondingto the promotion amount. And the seller receives an amount correspondingto the purchase amount and the payment amount.

In one embodiment the promotion is a rebate and in another the promotionis a coupon. The purchase amount may be, for example, the sales priceamount less the promotion amount. In addition, the purchase amount mayfurther include a service charge amount.

The facilitation mentioned above may be achieved by the gathering ofsales transaction information from the first online system. Suchfacilitation may further include the automatic generation of an invoicecorresponding to the sales transaction information gathered.

Facilitation may also be achieved by the payment of an amountcorresponding to the promotion amount. Facilitation in this case mayfurther include the automatic generation of an invoice corresponding tothe promotion amount. In addition, it may include the automaticgeneration of an offsetting accounting entry corresponding to thepromotion amount. Such offsetting accounting entry may be, for example,a debit entry or a credit entry.

The method may also permit control of the promotion via the secondonline system. In this case a service charge may also be assessed forservices rendered by the second online system.

FIG. 10 is a flow diagram illustrating the exemplary operation of aretail product or service sales server with a client and with aplurality of manufacturer servers to support a promotion such as arebate or coupon. Specifically, a sales server waits for a client,typically through web-browser interaction, to request information aboutone or more products or services from one or more manufacturers,suppliers or service providers. In a real time mode of operation, whensuch a client request is received as indicated by the block 1013, thesales server responds by performing the operations within a block 1015.

In particular, the sales server identifies the servers of themanufacturers, suppliers and/or service providers (hereinafter “sourceservers”) underlying the client request at a block 1017. Thereafter, ata block 1019, the sales server establishes secure communication withsuch source servers to retrieve promotion information, including termsand conditions for such promotions as “buy one item, get a differentitem for free,” “buy 2 get one free,” coupons, rebates, etc., along withrelated sales information, including, but not limited to pricing,inventory, images, descriptions, warranty information, licensinginformation, third party reviews, and links to further information.

In the real time mode of operation, the retrieval process within theblock 1015 occurs upon receiving each client request. In a periodic modeof operation, the sales server only performs the functions of block1015, for example, once every 24 hour period. Of course any period maybe possible. In an aged mode of operation, the sales server performs thefunctions of the block 1015 only if the information underlying theclient request has not been retrieved for a period of time. In otherwords, if a client request that occurred fifteen minutes earlier causedthe retrieval of information from a source server, then such informationneed not be requested again by the source server at least for apredetermined duration of time, such as for six hours. Thus, forexample, a single request from a client may cause the retrieval oflocally stored information (recently retrieved) regarding some productsor services along with remotely retrieved information regarding otherproducts or services (from source servers) that have old informationstored locally, with the old information being updated in the process.

Regardless of the mode of operation of the sales server, at a block1021, the sales server uses the retrieved product and/or serviceinformation to construct a web page which is delivered to the clientbrowser for viewing at a block 1023. Of course, such construction anddelivery may take any other form. For example, the information may beconstructed for printing, emailed, faxed, voice synthesized fortelephone playback, etc. Many other construction and delivery mechanismsare well known and may be used.

FIG. 11 is a schematic block diagram of exemplary system levelinteraction that illustrates the functionality described in relation toFIG. 10. A buyer (or client) accesses one of a plurality of salesservers; such as sales or retailer's servers 1117 and 1119, via Internetby sending a request for a web page or web page content through abuyer's browser 1121.

In response, the sales server 1117 (which may comprise one or moreservers) will respond by constructing the web page or page content fromproduct and/or service information underlying the buyer's request. Asmentioned in reference to FIG. 10, the sales server 1117 may retrievethe required product and/or service information (hereinafter “salesinformation”) from one or more of a plurality of source servers, such assource servers or manufacturer's servers 1111, 1113 and 1115, and/orfrom memory local to the sales server 1117. The specific timing of suchretrieval of sales information depends entirely on the mode of operationin which the sales server is operating, as previously described.

To retrieve sales information, the sales server 1117 establishes asecure link with one or more of the source servers 1111, 1113 and 1115.Each sales server 1111 typically comprises, among other things, aproduct or services database 1131 which itself may contain images 1141,promotion information 1143, and other sales information 1145, forexample. Thus, after receiving a request from the buyer via the buyer'sbrowser 1121, the sales server 1117, if operating in the aged mode, willrespond by first looking to local storage to determine whether the salesinformation underlying the request exist locally. For portions of thesales information that exists locally and is not too old, suchinformation is used in the construction of a response to be sent to thebuyer's browser 1121. For all portions of the sales information that istoo old or does not exist locally, the sales server 1117 establishessecured links with one or more of the source servers 1111, 1113 and 1115to retrieve such information. Similar operation for the other modes ofoperation is also possible.

Moreover, in some embodiments, the mode of operation of the sales serveris defined by the sales information itself. For example, a buyer'srequest may require that two products from two different manufacturersbe displayed in a single web page. The first product may require theaged mode of operation, while the second product may require a real timemode. Similarly, any portion of the sales information may define its ownrequired mode. For example, general image information may operate undera periodic mode while the price or an associated promotion might requirethe real time mode for control purposes.

Fall back modes are also contemplated when the desired mode fails. Forexample, if a real time mode fails, the sales server may be authorizedto resort to an aged or periodic mode of operation, so long as theconditions underlying conditions for use are met. Other variations suchas modified or combined versions of the modes or fall back strategiesidentified above are also contemplated and will be apparent to oneskilled in the art after considering such disclosed modes.

The secured communication from the sales servers to the source serversmay occur through an ASP architecture. A variety of encryption andcompression techniques can be used to provide secure and minimalbandwidth utilization between servers.

The source servers 1111, 1113 and 1115 are thus able to control andmodify any of the sales content without worrying about the buyer basinga purchase on outdated data existing at the sales servers 1117 and 1119.For example, a coupon can be tracked by the source server 1111 for aproduct sold by the sales servers 1117 and 1119. Once a certain volumeis reached, as counted through direct feedback from the sales servers1117 and 1119 as sales occur, the source server 1111 can remove thecoupon, ending this promotion. The source server 1111 can make thisdecision automatically based on a predetermined number or a numbercalculated based on current warehouse inventory, for example.

Referring to FIG. 12, when a Buyer (i.e., individuals or businessentities, such as, for example, corporations, distributers, orretailers) desires to purchase several Products (i.e., goods orservices) from a plurality of Sellers (i.e., manufacturers,distributers, or retailers) via the Internet 1201, the Buyer typicallymust first, via the Buyer's computer 1203, search for the Products andlocate the various Sellers online using, for example, a listing site1205 and/or search engine 1207. The search results may, for example,identify a Seller System 1209 that only sells a desired Product A, aSeller's System 1211 that only sells a desired Product B, a Seller'sSystem 1213 that sells both desired Products, a Seller's System 1215that sells neither of the desired Products and a Seller that maintains aNon-Sales System 1217. The Buyer, however, does not know which Systemidentified will support the desired purchase until the Buyer undertakesthe time-consuming process of accessing and navigating each of theidentified Seller's Systems. The Buyer must then find the prices for theProducts and select the Seller or Sellers from which to buy theProducts. Often, during the selection process, the Buyer must access andre-access selected Seller's System(s) to compare the Products and theirprices.

In other words, the Buyer is faced with the problem of identifying thetype and model of the Products desired, the Seller(s) that carry them,and whether those Seller(s) support on-line purchases. In addition, ifthe Buyer eventually identifies several Products that might meet thedesired requirements, the Buyer has no easy way to compare the Productsor their prices, regardless of whether the Buyer is looking for the SameProducts (i.e., identical Products from a single manufacturer sold bymultiple Sellers) or Similar Products (i.e., like Products fromdifferent manufacturers sold by multiple Sellers). Moreover, once theProduct(s) and Seller(s) are finally selected, the Buyer must oftenundertake multiple transactions, with at least one transaction for eachSeller.

The above process is further complicated by the fact that the initialstep of identifying via the internet the desired Products and theSellers who provide the Products is not inherently easy. Search enginesoften provide unorganized results. The Buyer is therefore required toundergo the further time consuming process of sifting through the searchresults just to locate possible matches.

In general, therefore, even though comparing Products and prices byconducting searches using a search engine or listing site (such asExcite or Yahoo) is possible, the process is not very productive,especially if the Buyer wants to specify an upper limit to the price theBuyer is willing to pay for one or more Products. Search queryformulations on typical search engines simply do not enable a Buyer tospecify upper limits for Product prices. In addition, as mentionedabove, if a Buyer locates one or more Sellers, the Buyer must interactwith each one individually, and often sequentially, to determine if apurchase can be made. Of course, no two sales systems picked at randomare likely to be similar. Therefore, the Buyer must learn to query thesales system of each and every Seller.

To make matters more complicated, Buyers often like to receive quotesfor the cost of purchasing a set of Products from different Sellerswithout having to consummate any purchase right away. The Buyer isusually not permitted to save such quotes at the Sellers' System,requiring the Buyer to re-request quotes every time the System isaccessed. This problem is compounded when a Buyer identifies Productsdesired from different Sellers and views quotes for some of thoseProducts without the ability to save any of the quotes for subsequentaccess and use.

Even if a Buyer prints quotes provided by multiple Sellers, if the Buyerwants to change the desired Product list and generate a new quote forthe changed Product list from a particular Seller, the Buyer is oftenrequired to interact with that Seller's online Sales System to enter theinformation all over again. In the rare situation where a Seller allowsa Buyer to save quotes for some duration, those saved quotes are likelyto be discarded by the Seller after a period of suspended salesactivity.

Once the Buyer finally gets to the point of actually purchasing Productsvia the internet, the Buyer must interact with each Seller individually,and sequentially, to provide the Buyer's shipping information and creditcard related information. Usually, the Buyer is prompted to provide suchinformation before the Buyer can consummate a purchase. If the amountquoted by an online Seller for the currently selected Products from aBuyer's list is larger than the available credit on the credit cardprovided by the Buyer, the sales activity is often terminated. Even whenthe Buyer is in possession of multiple credit cards and their combinedavailable credit exceeds the quoted amount for a Products list, it isoften not possible for the Buyer to complete the purchase due to theinability of the online Sales System of the Seller to handle suchcomplicated transactions.

In addition to the problems discussed above, a Buyer that is also acorporation experiences its own unique set of problems when it buys inbulk from online Sellers. For example, the Buyer often must havesufficient storage capacity to house the Product purchased before theProduct can be distributed. In addition, when a Buyer is purchasing andstoring the Product as such, the Buyer is often paying a higher pricefor the Product than it would have paid if the Buyer had simply waitedand bought the Product when the Buyer was ready to distribute it. Thisis particularly true of high technology Products, such as, for example,computers, whose prices drop rapidly as the state of the art improves.Thus, it is often desirable for a Buyer to determine the cost ofpurchasing just some of the desired Products in the near future asopposed to purchasing them all at a current time period. There iscurrently no online sales system in widespread usage that enables aBuyer to obtain graduated quotes as such. Consequently, the advantagesof buying in bulk online are often vitiated.

Additionally, when a Seller sells one or more Products to a Buyer on theinternet, there is often an opportunity for the Seller, or for otherSellers, to sell a related but distinct item to the Buyer that isperhaps available at another Seller's online Sales System. For example,a Buyer purchasing a computer from an online Seller may also be in themarket for a computer desk and a computer chair. However, nearly allsuch sales opportunities go undetected and untapped because Sellers donot have the ability or motivation to automatically share sales relatedactivity information with each other.

Further, if a Seller has built up inventory of one or more Products thatit wants to dispose of at an accelerated rate, it has no means tooffload such inventory online.

Small Sellers experience even more difficulty in selling Productsonline. Before even buying Products via the internet, Buyers generallyneed to have confidence in the Sellers, which may not be the case unlessthe seller is well known or has a good reputation. Absent suchconfidence, Buyers may decide to pay a higher price simply for thecomfort of dealing with a known Seller.

In addition, small online Sellers often do not have the Sales Systemsnecessary to provide online sales support. Such online Sales Systemsoften require web hosting services, product configuration and pricingdatabases, credit-card processing systems, etc. Small online Sellersoften purchase web-hosting and sales support services from internetservice providers or from online malls However, Buyers can only get tosuch Seller's Sales System when Buyers locate and subsequently migrateto them for browsing.

Sellers often provide coupons and rebates as an incentive to promotesales of specific Products. Sellers who offer coupons on the internetexperience their own unique set of problems. More specifically,referring to FIG. 13, in a typical scenario, a manufacturer 1301 firstmust speculate to identify the timing, amount and quantity of eachrebate and coupon. The manufacturer 1301 creates and delivers paperrebates/coupons to a distributor 1303, who forwards the paperrebates/coupons to a retailer 1305. The manufacturer 1301 may deliverthe paper rebates/coupons directly to the retailer 1305. To use arebate/coupon, the retailer 1305 must modify their product database, webserver content, and, possibly, their sales application. This burden,along with the burden of having to collect from the manufacturer 1301,dissuades the retailer 1305 from participating in the rebate/couponprocess.

Alternatively, the manufacturer may use a third party 1307 to deliverthe coupons/rebates directly to the Buyer.

In addition, Sellers who provide coupons and rebates for Products on theinternet often do not have the ability to control the amounts dispensedor to whom they are dispensed. This often leads to problems when toomany, or too few, rebates/coupons, are dispensed online by a Seller. Amanufacturer desires to determine the rate at which the rebates/couponsare accessed and redeemed by Buyers so as to alter the volume ofrebates/coupons offered or discount given. However, rebates offered onthe internet cannot be easily tracked, and without such tracking, aSeller cannot determine when to alter the rebate/coupon value or thenumber of rebates/coupons dispensed.

Furthermore, in most situations, retail Sellers on the internet do nothave the ability or the facility to honor rebates supplied bymanufacturers or distributors. This is also true for coupons. Buyers arethen left with no option for redeeming such coupons and rebates. In thecase of rebates, Buyers might be able to send the rebates along with theBuyer's sales receipts to manufacturers via post (snail mail) andsubsequently redeem them via post.

Additionally, when Buyers are typically provided a quote by the onlinesales system of online Sellers for the products selected for purchase,the Buyers have the option to cancel the transactions and not purchaseany Products. When they choose not to consummate a sale after a quote isprovided to them, the Sellers do not have a second opportunity toprovide a better quote or “sweeten the deal”, causing the Seller to losea potential sale.

After receiving the Products purchased from various Sellers, if theBuyer is interested in registering the Products with the manufacturersfor technical support reasons or for Product update reasons, the Buyermust typically fill in registration cards and mail them to themanufacturers via post (snail mail). In the case of software purchasedover the internet, the buyer if often prompted by the software duringits installation to fill in a registration form full of questions. Suchonline registrations for each software purchased is a chore that Buyersoften bypass at the risk of foregoing tech support from themanufacturer.

In general, without registering the product purchased, Buyers are notlikely to receive warranty support or tech support. If Buyers areinterested in registering the Product purchased with the manufacturer,the Buyer must mail receipts of the Products purchased, and sometimeseven proofs of purchase, such as barcodes, along with registrationcards, to the manufacturer. If a Buyer misplaces either the receipt orthe registration card, registering the products with the manufacturersis very difficult.

When manufacturers offer rebates on specific Products, the Buyer, ingeneral, must mail in the rebates that apply to the Products purchased.Again, mailing in rebates to manufacturers requires an investment oftime and energy. For rebates being offered over the internet, Sellersmust request and collect the information, print it, and mail it withreceipts and sales information for redemption.

The problems related to redemption of rebates are in some ways similarto the problems with the redemption of coupons. Even if buyers canlocate coupons for some of the products that they intend to buy on theinternet, typically there is no easy way to redeem them on internetpurchases.

Referring now to FIG. 14, quite often, manufacturers of products employseveral distributors and retailers to sell their products. Often thesedistributors and retailers have their own internet sales presence andendeavor to sell the manufacturers products on the internet. One of thecommon problems faced by these distributors and retailers is theirinability to assure Buyers of the availability of products, whether theproduct is coming from theirs or the manufacturer's inventory. Thiscauses problems during order fulfillment activities after a Buyer makesa purchase and delay in delivery follows. Manufacturers do not have theability to determine the sales executed by their various retailers anddistributors. This causes the Seller problems in determining productiontargets.

Often, a Seller would want to determine the selling price of specificProducts being offered for sale by other online Sellers (see, e.g. FIG.15). This, however, is not easy. Such information may be gathered byvisiting the online sales sites of various vendors and browsing orexecuting queries on each of those sales sites to extract pricinginformation. This solution does not scale up.

If manufacturers want to control the flow of rebates in an automatedway, they require information, such as the volume of sales, from theirdistributors and retailers. In the online internet based salesenvironment, coupons and rebates dispensed to Buyers cannot be easilytracked and reported, especially if the individual distributors andretailers have online sales systems that don't interact with each otherand don't communicate information easily, as is the situation when theyall have heterogeneous sales environments. A related problem is one ofdetermining the sale prices for similar products from differentretailers and distributors that sell the same family of products from amanufacturer.

Quite often, third party web-hosting companies host online sales systemsfor multiple vendors, some of whom might be involved in selling Similaror Same Products (see e.g., FIG. 14). If online vendors have todetermine prices of similar Products or the same Products sold by theircompetition, it is often difficult to obtain such information in atimely manner even when the competing vendors are hosted by the sameweb-hosting service provider. Among other reasons for this, oneimportant reason is the fact that each vendor employs their ownproprietary tools and system design to store product information,customer information, sales information etc.

If a product manufacturer, their distributors and retailers each managetheir own online sales system, then it is difficult for them tocorrelate similar or the same information contained in each of theirsystems. If they choose to install and use similar sales systems toalleviate this problem, then the distributors and retailers are eitherconstrained to carrying products from that single manufacturer or theyare forced to support several such manufacturer specific proprietarysales systems. Therefore, in order to minimize the number of such salessystems that they have to support and interact with and yet not limitthemselves to a few manufacturers, distributors and retailers are oftenforced to maintain their own individual and customized sales system thatis not necessarily tied to any individual manufacturer. By doing so,they encounter the problems of correlation of data in their salessystems and in those of the manufacturers.

FIG. 16 is a block diagram showing the Multi-Seller Interface System's1603 role in the identification of Sellers for a Buyer attempting topurchase products Product A and Product B over the internet. The Buyer,using the Buyer's computer 1601, interacts with the Multi-SellerInterface System 1603 to specify information about the products ProductA and Product B that he intends to purchase from online Sellers on theinternet. The Multi-Seller Interface System 1603 identifies the variousSeller's systems based on the category of products the Sellers carry,the Seller's capability to provide quality goods and services, and othercriteria. For example, the Multi-Seller Interface System (MSIS) 1603identifies Seller's systems 1611, 1613, 1615 as those that are capableof selling one or more products desired by the Buyer. It also determinesthat the Seller's System 1617 is incapable of selling one or moreproducts desired by the Buyer and that the Non-Sales System 1619 shouldbe ignored for possible sales transactions initiated by the Buyer.

The Buyer's computer 1601 interacts with the MSIS 1603 via internet1623. Similarly, the MSIS 1603 interacts with the Seller's systems 1611,1613, 1615, 1617 and 1619 via internet 1623. Optionally, the MSIS 1603may choose to interact with any of the Seller's systems 1611, 1613,1615, 1617 and 1619 via a dedicated network or via an intranet.

Typically, in response to a Buyer's selection of product categories, theMSIS 1603 sends queries to one or more Seller's systems 1611, 1613,1615, 1617, 1619 to extract product and pricing information from thecorresponding Seller's system. In response, the Seller's systemstypically return shopping carts filled with those Buyer specifiedproducts that they are capable of selling, along with prices for theproducts and, optionally, their inventory of the products.

FIG. 17 is a block diagram showing the Multi-Seller Interface System1703 capable of interacting with Seller's systems 1707, 1715, 1717employing a Sales Bridge software 1711 that is installed on each of theSeller's systems 1707, 1715, 1717. The Sales Bridge software 1711 isused by the MSIS 1703 to execute queries sent to the Seller's systems1709, 1715, 1717 from the MSIS 1703 and, in response, return shoppingcarts with prices back to the MSIS 1703. In general, the Sales Bridge1711 is used by the MSIS 1703 as a remote database layer that is capableof translating queries received from the MSIS 1703 into queries andprocesses that retrieve the requested information, such asconfiguration, pricing and inventory, from the Seller's Sales software1709.

A Buyer using a Buyer's computer 1701 interacts with the MSIS 1703 overinternet 1705 to specify queries related to products that he intends topurchase. Such interactions typically involve navigating down ahierarchy of product categories to identify those that the Buyer isinterested in, or specifying a search criteria via a search interface toextract information on products and product categories and to identifyrelevant product categories.

FIG. 18 is a schematic block diagram illustrating various functionalityof a Multi-Seller Interface System's 1803 and Seller's systems 1819 and1821. The MSIS 1803 includes one or more web server software 1809 withwhich Buyer's computers 1801 interact, one or more Application serversoftware 1811 that provide various Sales services to buyers accessingthem over internet 1805 and one or more Sales databases 1813 that isused to save various kinds of information such as customer profile,saved quotes, product categories, etc.

Among other things, the MSIS also supports product category selection,search query formulation, instant coupon and rebate processing, shoppingcart comparison, composite shopping cart review, shopping cart pricingand saved quote repricing, quote persistence and query persistence,scheduled delivery information from Buyers, customer profile autotransactions, opportunity management and sales agent support, automaticregistration of products on behalf of Buyers, Warranty management. Inaddition, it also includes Sales Bridge software interface that makes itpossible to interact with Seller's systems 1819 and 1821.

Seller's system 1819 comprises a Seller's sales software 1835 and aSales Bridge software 1823. The Seller's Sales software 1835 includes aweb server software 1829, an Application server software 1831 and aSales databases 1833. The Sales Bridge software 1823 comprises a QueryBridge 1825 and a Transaction Bridge 1827.

The Query Bridge 1825 is used to query one or more Sales databases 1833using queries formulated by the MSIS 1803 or queries created from searchinformation sent by the MSIS 1803. Information extracted by the QueryBridge 1825 is communicated to the MSIS 1803 over communication links1837. The Transaction Bridge 1827 is typically employed by the MSIS 1803to conduct credit-card based sales transactions with the Seller's system1819.

FIG. 19 is an exemplary flow chart showing typical work flow at theMulti-Seller Interface System 1803. At a block 1901, the MSIS 1803attempts to generate a sale employing automatic marketing and salesfunctionality. These activities include emailing potential buyersinformation such as saved persistent quotes, current inventoryinformation, quote updates based on repricing existing quotes, productupgrades that might have become available, up and cross-sellingopportunity detection from an individual Seller's sales activity or frommonitoring sales activities across multiple Sellers. The automaticmarketing and sales functionality activities also include directedadvertising, coupon and rebate delivery to potential Buyers based onBuyer profile provided by Buyers or based on information gathered bytracking Buyer's buying habits.

Later, at a block 1903, the MSIS 1803 assists Buyers in generating aquery for subsequent submission of those queries to Seller's systems.Queries can take the form of old saved quotes or shopping carts, couponsselected, rebates selected, query text, third party shopping carts,sales brochures, persistent queries, etc.

Later, at a block 1905, the MSIS 1803 preprocesses Buyer specifiedqueries and delivers them to selected Seller systems that are identifiedbased on one or more search criteria including, in some cases, productcategories, customer profiles, etc. Some of these queries areselectively cached in memory by the MSIS 1803.

When the Seller's systems respond with product and pricing information,for example, with priced shopping carts that include all or a subset ofthe Buyer's product list, the MSIS 1803 presents the information toBuyer for interaction with the Buyer. Optionally, such information ispresented as a comparison of products and prices, at a block 1907. If acustomer's query fails to retrieve results from Seller's systems, theMSIS 1803 makes a transition to the block 1901.

Otherwise, the MSIS 1803 continues to a block 1909 where it responds toBuyer's selection and acceptance of product prices by interacting withnone or more corresponding Seller's systems to complete the salestransactions. Subsequently, at a block 1911, the MSIS 1803 performs postsales functions which selectively include registration, warranties,updates, maintenance contracts, opportunity management etc. Opportunitymanagement is employed to generate additional sales or repeat sales.

FIG. 20 is an exemplary screen layout that a Buyer interacts with inorder to select products and obtain product prices during an onlinepurchasing activity supported by the MSIS 1803. The MSIS presents aBuyer with a screen of information that includes a button for Queryterms that the Buyer can select from, a button for Query Text that isoptionally entered by the user to facilitate product and price searches,a button that when activated, results in sending a query to one or moreSeller's systems, and a button that makes it possible to view the hitsfollowing the receipt of responses to Buyer's queries.

FIG. 21 is a diagram that shows a list of products with prices providedto Buyer by the MSIS 1803. It shows a comparison of prices, for productsacquired from two different shopping carts. In this exemplary scenario,products bought from two different Sellers add up to a total that isless than the total quoted by another single Seller. Addition, theSellers are rated with asterisks (**) indicating the ratings.

FIG. 22 provides a functional block diagram of buyer and seller systeminteraction with the system of the present invention. Therein, thesystem comprises a web based, Multi-Seller Interface System (MSIS) and aplurality of Sales Bridge Software (SBS) modules through which buyer'scomputers can simultaneously access many independent and differingsellers' sales systems.

To interact with the system of the present invention, a buyer, corporateor individual, merely accesses web pages provided by the MSIS withconventional web browser software on the buyer's computer. The buyerinteracts with the MSIS to define queries relating to one or moredesired products. The MSIS automatically attempts to identify those ofthe plurality of participating sellers that might carry such products.Once defiled, each query is simultaneously communicated by the MSIS toeach of Seller's Sales System (SSS) via the SBS modules of theidentified ones of the plurality of participating sellers. Using a querybridging approach, each SBS module performs a search of product,pricing, inventory, etc., database(s) based on the query. All salesinformation relating to each product identified in the search isdelivered to the MSIS for the buyer's review, comparison and selection.The MSIS permits concurrent selection and single transaction purchasingof products from more than one seller. Caching of common queries on aday to day basis is also supported by the MSIS to minimize communicationoverhead.

The sales information returned from each SSS represents complete, realtime public and private sales information, catering not only toindividual buyers, but, more importantly, to sellers. For example, inresponse to queries from individual buyers or competitors, the querybridge of the present invention may easily be configured to deliverpublic information such as pricing and product descriptions. For queriesgenerated within a selling channel (i.e., by a manufacturer, distributoror retailer or by their sales systems), private information relating toeach product such as inventory, inventory projections, numbers sold,margins, etc., may be easily and automatically exchanged. Suchinformation can be used for forecasting inventory, pricing, planningpromotional activities (e.g., instant coupons, auctioning and rebateprograms), and production planning, for example.

The MSIS supports query definition in several ways to provide the buyerwith greatly needed yet currently unavailable functionality. Forexample, through a category selection process and/or textual search termentry, a buyer can construct a query to simultaneously retrieve from allsellers all underlying product sales information matching the query. Thebuyer can also generate a query from online rebate and couponinformation for true instant processing, unlike current online rebateand coupon vendors who incorrectly claim to do the same. Queries may begenerated from third party seller shopping carts for comparison withparticipating sellers' products. Saved quotes may be converted toqueries for updating and verification, and may be used as a persistentbasis via sales email for attempting to complete the transaction withthe buyer. Further, queries may be generated from advertisinginformation, e.g., online auction descriptions, online sales brochures,etc., whether or not such information originates within the MSIS.

Selling channel systems also generate queries in a number of, ways withor without interaction through a web client (user interface). Automaticdata gathering between participants in the selling channel will permitan application (based on a toolkit) to automatically (1) place orsuggest placing orders to replenish inventory, (2) identify new productofferings, (3) suggest pricing changes, (4) facilitate just in timedelivery, (5) identify and/or maintain appropriate inventory levels, (6)suggest or carry out changes or additions to advertising and promotionalprograms, (7) schedule release of upgraded or superseding products, etc.Competing selling channel systems may also be queried (automatically orotherwise) to gather public information regarding competing productlines. Such information may be used to supplement the automaticprocesses identified in items 1-7 above, for example. A toolkitunderlying the MSIS simplifies preparation of application software tocarry out such and other processes. Such application software may run onany or all system(s) within a sales channel. In fact, such applicationsoftware, or portions thereof, may be placed at many locations within asingle organization to carry out internal, enterprise sales functions.

The toolkit underlying the MSIS also provides for up, cross and sellerto seller opportunity management for automated, email-based targetmarketing without the need to release buyer information to aparticipating seller. For example, the MSIS permits a first seller toestablish relationships between completed and/or queried salestransactions within categories and/or by a specified second seller.Based thereon, predefined email is automatically sent to buyers orpotential buyers advertising sales of the first seller's products thatrelate to the category or to the second seller's product.

From a buyer's online perspective, the MSIS performs a singletransaction (e.g., credit card) processing of multiple productselections spanning more than one seller. Based on final configuration,the underlying transaction may actually involve (1) a plurality oftransaction processes between each seller and the buyer using thebuyer's credit card information, and/or (2) a single credit cardtransaction for the total from the buyer to the MSIS along with aplurality of transaction processes with each seller involving accountinformation of the MSIS.

As part of the sales transaction, or in follow up thereto, the MSISperforms automated registration, warranty delivery and acceptance,maintenance contract offerings and purchases, and emailed productinformation regarding updates and upgrades services. Stored buyerprofiles minimize buyer interaction required to carry out salestransactions and such associated services. Stored buyer transactionrecords enable targeted email advertising, persistent query support,opportunity management, etc.

The MSIS can, upon a seller's request and in addition to or inreplacement of the seller's sales system, perform transaction and/orother sales processing for the seller. In addition, the MSIS provideseach seller with real time access to product sales information from theseller's competitors and own sales chain. The query protocol and the SBSenable a corporate buyer to develop specifically desired salesinterfaces into one or more seller systems. The underlying functionalityand software libraries used in the MSIS may be specifically licensed forsuch purpose. Corporate buyers are also supported through scheduledpurchasing and just in time delivery functionality within the MSIS.

The present invention may generate revenue by taking a percentage ofeach completed sales transaction conducted through the MSIS. To generatefurther revenue, the MSIS tracks each buyer's use of the web-site,whether or not a transaction is completed, and offers to provide sellerswith information for potential future sales opportunities. Similarly,the System offers instant rebate and coupon processing, direct emailtargeted sales, advertising space, and persistence in exchange fortransaction percentages. Credit card processing, delivery tracking,customer support, and other backend sales functions can be offered,generating further revenue streams.

The System may be based on web server and application server softwareproducts offered by Trilogy Development Group, a company located inAustin, Tex.

FIG. 23 is a functional block diagram illustrating buyer and sellersystem interaction with the Multi-Seller Interface System (MSIS) of thepresent invention. The MSIS comprises SalePoint and SaleBridge Software.The SalePoint Software runs on one or more conventional web andapplication servers to provide a multi-seller interface.

The SalesBridge Software is placed on each seller's online sales systemto bridge communication between the SalePoint Software and each seller'sonline sales databases and applications. Buyers may then simultaneouslyaccess many independent and different seller's sales systems. Similarly,groups of sellers (within one or more sales channels) can easily andautomatically share sales and product information.

As shown in FIG. 24, the SalePoint Software will support web based,interactive access by buyers and sellers through their web clients, andnon-web based, automatic access by the sellers through an interface.

The SalesBridge Software uses both query and transaction bridgingfunctionality to couple each seller's system with the SalePointSoftware. Alternatively, such bridging functionality may be partially orentirely integrated into the seller's system.

FIGS. 25 and 26 are detailed drawings of the SalePoint and SalesBridgeSoftware. As shown in FIG. 25, buyers use their web client software(e.g., a browser) to select and request server pages for one of aplurality of application services. A web server and server scriptenvironment responds by serving html files, server pages, and imagesthat correspond to the selected application service. The server pagesexecuted by the environment typically incorporate method invocations onobjects stored in an object layer or object backbone and associateddatabases. In addition, the server pages identify transaction logic forthe selected application service.

For each of the application services, transaction logic (a high levelscripting language) is written to include a sequence of tasks that eachmanipulate data or objects, with each of the tasks executed byunderlying task specific transaction logic or compiled code (hereinaftera “workflow object”), or both. Although transaction logic isspecifically written for each of the application services, many of theworkflow objects and underlying task specific transaction logic areshared by different application services.

Some examples of the application services contemplated by the presentinvention can be found with reference to FIGS. 27-33 below. The tasksexecuted by the transaction logic engine may include, for example,credit card related transactions, database searches, database updates,remote transactions executed on one or more seller's systems, etc.

The transaction logic engine interacts with several other web servercomponents of the SalePoint Software, such as a query generator,scheduling component, usage tracking, management component, emailcomponent, 3rd party web server interface, credit card processinginterface and a remote transaction handler. The query generator createsqueries based on information provided by buyer, data retrieved fromdatabase(s), information provided via method invocations from non-webserver interface, etc. The queries generated by the query generator areselectively sent to SalesBridge Software associated with remote Seller'ssystems to extract various kinds of sales information.

The scheduling component is used to periodically initiate various tasks,transaction logic, and activities such as reporting or re-pricing, etc.For example, a buyer or seller can schedule various activities andspecify when and how frequently they should be executed throughassociated application services. The schedules and the activities aresaved in databases by the scheduling component for subsequent retrievaland execution by the transaction logic engine.

Although usage tracking might have been implemented via transactionlogic, it is implemented as a separate component to collect, process andreport information regarding the use of the SalePoint Software by buyersand sellers. The usage tracking component provides information onproducts sold by various sellers, product sales volume, type of productsbeing sold, inventory information, and various other sales relatedinformation. The usage tracking component provides information withdifferent levels of granularity, as required and authorized by variousbuyers and sellers.

The management component is used to manage various activities, scheduledor unscheduled, for buyers and sellers. It is also used to manageinitializations, application service deployment, updates, recycling, andshutdown of various resources.

The email component is used to send email to one or more buyers or buyergroups after the processing of certain events or after the execution ofa scheduled or unscheduled transaction logic command. It is also used tosend various information, such as, for example, buyer purchasing andquery profiles, to sellers and to email promotional material such ascoupons and rebates to one or more buyers.

The 3rd party web server interface is used to interact with remote webservers to retrieve or to provide various kinds of information. Usingthis interface, it is possible to interact with remote web servers justlike web clients on those web servers.

The credit card processing component is used to interact or conducttransactions with remote credit card processing units. Such remotecredit card processing units may be located at seller's environments orincorporated into a seller's system. The credit card processingcomponent enables a buyer to selectively spread purchases over one ormore credit cards owned by the buyer, and to spread a buyer's shoppingcart purchase over several sellers.

The remote transaction handler provides support for interactions withSaleBridge Software installed with one or more remote seller's salessystems. It employs one or more communication mechanisms such as RemoteMethod Invocation (RMI), Common Object Request Broker Architecture(CORBA), TCPIIP, Voyager, etc., to communicate with remote software andretrieve information. Remote SaleBridge Software can initiatecommunications with the SalePoint Software in order to retrieveinformation, provide information, or request some service. It alsosupports communication with external systems such as third partycredit-card systems and monitoring tools.

FIG. 26 shows the interactions between the SalesBridge Software and theSeller's system. The seller's system may have its own web server toprovide an interface to web clients. The seller's system also typicallyincorporates seller's databases that comprise, among other things,product, promotional, order fulfillment, product registration, warrantyand customer databases. An object layer on top of the database layerenables the application layer to manipulate objects.

The seller's system may also contain the seller's non-web applications,web based applications, and card processing application. The SaleBridgeSoftware may also interact with the seller's applications to extractproduct, pricing, and inventory information as well as to conductcredit-card based transactions.

If the seller's system includes a web server, the SaleBridge Softwaremay also provide a web based application bridge to assist the querybridge in extracting product, pricing and inventory information. Thequery bridge is responsible for mapping or translating queries sent bySalePoint Software into one or more queries executable on the seller'sdatabases to retrieve, and possibly update, information in the seller'sdatabases.

The SaleBridge Software also provides a non-web based application bridgeto extract information from the seller's system via the seller's non-webapplications interface. The non-web based application bridge IS employedvia an interface supporting remote access based on CORBA, RMI, etc.

The SalesBridge Software also includes a transaction bridge that can beused to interact with the seller's card processing application toprocess credit card purchases. For example, a buyer's credit card andshopping cart related information may be communicated to the seller'scard processing application to complete a transaction for the buyer.

FIG. 27 illustrates an individual buyer interface system, SaleBlazerthat runs on the MSIS. The interface may also be tailored to thecorporate buyer, with extended functionality supporting, for example,scheduled buying and just-in-time delivery.

To interact with the SaleBlazer service, a buyer merely usesconventional web browser software on the buyer's computer. The buyerinteracts to define a query relating to one or more desired products.The SaleBlazer service via the SalePoint Software identifies those ofthe plurality of participating sellers that might carry such products.Once defined, the SalePoint Software simultaneously communicates thequery to SaleBridge Software at each of the identified participatingsellers.

Using the query and transaction bridging approach of the presentinvention, each SaleBridge Software component performs a search ofproduct, pricing, inventory, etc., databases based on the query. Allsales information relating to each product identified in the search isdelivered to the SalePoint Software for presentation to the buyer. Thebuyer may review, compare and select one or more of the productsreturned from one or more of the participating sellers. Caching ofcommon queries on a day to day basis will also be supported by theSaleBlazer service to minimize communication overhead.

From an individual buyer's online perspective, the SaleBlazer servicewill perform a single transaction (e.g., credit card) processing ofmultiple product selections spanning more than one seller. Based onfinal configuration, the underlying transaction may actually involve (1)a plurality of transaction processes between each seller and the buyerusing the buyer's credit card information, and/or (2) a single creditcard transaction for the total from the buyer to the MSIS along with aplurality of transaction processes with each seller involving accountinformation of the MSIS.

As part of the sales transaction or in follow up thereto, the SaleBlazerservice will perform automated registration, warranty delivery andacceptance, maintenance contract offerings and purchases, and emailedproduct information regarding updates and upgrades services. Storedbuyer profiles will minimize buyer interaction required to carry outsales transaction and such associated services.

FIG. 28 illustrates an Opportunity Management application service thatprovides for up, cross and seller to seller opportunity management forautomated, email based target marketing without the need to releasebuyer or specific seller information to another participating seller.For example, the Opportunity Management service will permit a firstseller to contact a buyer that has completed a sales transaction for aproduct of a second seller. Similarly, a buyer showing interest but notbuying one of a seller's products can be automatically contacted viaemail offering another of the seller's products. The buyer may choose toremain anonymous and still receive such email through our emailforwarding functionality of the Opportunity Management service.

FIGS. 29 and 30 illustrate Supply, Competition & Sales Channel Services(“Channel Services”) offered in accordance with the present invention.Each seller's sales system contains complete, real time public andprivate sales information. The Channel Services will provide eachparticipating seller with access to other participating seller's salesinformation. For example, in response to manually or automaticallygenerated queries from a seller, the Channel Services instantly deliverpublic information such as pricing and product descriptions fromcompeting participating sellers. For queries generated within a saleschannel (i.e., by a manufacturer and the manufacture's distributors andretailers), private information relating to each product such asinventory, inventory projections, numbers sold, margins, etc., can beinstantly exchanged. Such public and private information will also beused by SFA (Sales Force Automation), ERP (Enterprise ResourcePlanning), and SC (Supply Channel) tool vendors to forecastinginventory, pricing, promotional activities (e.g., instant coupons,auctioning and rebate programs), and production planning, for example.

FIG. 31 illustrates Sales Promotion Services offered in accordance withthe present invention. Using the Sales Promotion Services, a buyer cangenerate a query from online rebate and coupon information for trueinstant processing, unlike current online rebate and coupon vendors whoincorrectly claim to do the same. Further, queries may be generated fromadvertising information, e.g., online auction descriptions, online salesbrochures, etc., whether or not such information originates within theMSIS.

FIG. 32 illustrates an auction function offered in accordance with thepresent invention. The MSIS supports auctioning of products by one ormore Seller's in an environment where a Buyer using a Web Client(s) canmake a bid for one or more products put up for auction by a Seller viathe Seller's Web Client software. The Sellers typically employ AuctionPosting to which Buyers send bids. The MSIS Running Auction Applicationmaintains bids offered by potential Buyers for one or more AuctionPostings put up for auction by Sellers. When the Seller selects one ormore Buyers to consummate an auction sale, the MSIS makes it possible toexecute credit-card based transactions employing the Credit CardProcessing Service and one or more Credit Card Companies.

FIG. 33 illustrates a Corporate and +Government Bidding Service offeredin accordance with the present invention. The MSIS can be used as a bidprocessing system to support bidding by multiple Seller's to meet therequirements of Buyers, typically corporate buyers. The MSIS RunningBidding Application interacts with multiple Sellers who can participatein the bidding process in response to a bid request posting (BRP) fromBuyers. Buyers or Requesters can access bidding information on the MSISvia the Requester's Web Client. Using the Bidder's Web Client, Bidderscan review or selectively change their bids and also review the statusof the BRP.

SaleBridge Software on Bidder's System is employed by the MSIS tointeract with the bidder's system and periodically update information onthe status on bids. In addition, the inventory of various productsavailable on the bidder's system is selectively accessed by the MSIS viathe SaleBridge.

Requesters using a Requester's Web Client and Bidders using a Bidder'sWeb Client may interact with the MSIS via an Affiliated Bidding Web &App Server, which selectively sends Requests or bids to the MSIS andprovides information about them to Requesters and Bidders. Similarly,3rd Party Bidding Web & App Servers employ the services of the MSIS tosave bid-related information and to conduct the bid resolutionactivities. The various participants in the request and bidding processare periodically informed about the status of the bids via email. Whenbids are decided and the Requester selects a Bidder, say a lowestbidder, the MSIS facilitates the execution of the transactions toconsummate the purchase of the products by the Requester.

In one embodiment, the MSIS automatically provides to the Requester areference bid that comprises lowest bids for individual products frommultiple Bidders, thereby assembling the lowest total bid to be used,whether as a reference or as an actual bid which can be used forpurchase by the Requester. Multiple Sellers may be included in such areference bid. When multiple Bidders are selected by a Requester, whereeach Bidder supplies part of the Request, the MSIS facilitates thecompletion of the purchase by the Request from multiple Bidders.

FIG. 34 is a schematic diagram of an Integrated Channel Systemcomprising an Integrated Channel Service Manager, a manufacturerenvironment comprising an Inventory system, a Pricing system, aConfiguration system, and an Order fulfillment system, a Reseller systemfor Reseller A comprising an inventory system and an order system, aReseller system for Distributor B comprising a Seller's system, and aRetailer system for Retailer C comprising a Seller's system. Inaddition, a retailer sales system for Retailer C is also incorporated.

In general, the Integrated Channel Service Manager communicates withSalesBridge software integrated with individual Seller systems.Specifically, the Integrated Channel Service Manager communicates withthe SalesBridge software installed with each of the Seller systems,namely, the manufacturer environment, Reseller A, Distributor B, andRetailer C.

More specifically, the Integrated Channel Service Manager sends queriesrelated to order status, inventory levels, pricing and productconfiguration to the manufacturer environment and receives informationfrom the manufacturer environment. It also selectively sends informationrelated to product sales, pricing, inventory, order status, etc.retrieved from Reseller A and Distributor B to the manufacturerenvironment. In addition, the Integrated Channel Service Managerfacilitates the selective exchange of sales, inventory, pricing,configuration, order status, etc. between the manufacturer environment,the Reseller A, Distributor B and Retailer C. Such selective exchange ofinformation between the manufacturer environment, Reseller A andReseller B occurs via the SalesBridge software integrated with theirrespective systems, under the supervision or control of the IntegratedChannel Service Manager.

As discussed above, quite often, manufacturers of products employseveral distributors, resellers and retailers to sell their products.Often these distributors and retailers have their own internet salespresence and endeavor to sell the manufacturers products on theinternet. One of the common problems faced by these distributors andretailers is their inability to assure Buyers of the availability ofproducts, whether the product is coming from their own or themanufacturer's inventory. This causes problems during order fulfillmentactivities after a Buyer makes a purchase and delay in delivery follows.In general, manufacturers do not have the ability to determine the salesexecuted by their various retailers and distributors. This causes (theSeller) problems in determining production targets.

These problems are solved by integrating the sales, order fulfillmentand manufacturing systems of all sellers in the channel, as shown, forexample, in FIG. 34. Such integration is facilitated by the IntegratedChannel service Manager and the individual SalesBridge softwareincorporated in the software of each of the partners in the channel.

Specifically, in the manufacturing environment, in accordance with thepresent invention, the sales systems of manufacturers and theirdistributors is integrated with (a) the order fulfillment systems of themanufacturer and all the resellers and distributors, (b) the inventorymanagement systems of the manufacturer, (c) the pricing systems of themanufacturer(s) and distributors (d) the promotion systems of allSellers, and (e) the Configuration systems of the manufacturer which maybe shared by all the distributors and resellers. This makes it possibleto not only provide the ability to fulfill orders for an individualBuyer from multiple sellers (i.e. one or more distributors andmanufacturers) but also the ability to incorporate different pricingschemes and promotional schemes in fulfilling the order. In addition,such integration makes it possible to incorporate information about theinventory levels of the manufacturer and distributors in determining thedelivery date and shipping costs for the Buyer.

In an environment where a manufacturer is not directly involved, such asin a sales environment incorporating a large master reseller and theirdistributors and retailers, the sales systems of master resellers andtheir distributors and retailers is integrated with each Seller's (a)order fulfillment systems, (b) inventory management systems, (c) pricingsystems, and (d) promotion systems to accrue the benefits described inthe previous paragraph.

Often a Seller, such as a manufacturer, desires to determine the sellingprice of specific Products being offered for sale by other onlineSellers, and their current inventory levels of those Products,especially if the other Sellers are the Seller's own distributors. This,however, is not easy. Such information may be gathered by visiting theonline sales sites of various Sellers (distributors) and browsing orexecuting queries on each of those sales sites to extract pricinginformation. However, the integration of the sales systems and inventorymanagement systems of the various distributors and retailers of aProduct manufacturer makes it possible for the manufacturer to extractpricing and inventory information from the various distributors andretailers. It is also possible for the manufacturer to not only providethe distributors and retailers with a centrally maintained and sharedset of product information and marketing collateral, but also provideforecasts of future pricing changes, delivery schedules, manufacturingschedules and inventory levels.

Another benefit of such integration is the ability to controlpromotions. For example, the integration of sales and inventory systemsfrom multiple sellers such as those of a manufacturer and themanufacturer's distributors and retailers would make it possible tocontrol the flow of promotional offerings (coupons, rebates, etc.) in anautomated way that would also permit adjusting the promotional offeringsdynamically to meet sales targets. In such an integrated environment,the adjustments of promotional offerings is driven by severalparameters, including the volume of sales from the distributors andretailers, the product inventory levels at various shelves andwarehouses maintained by the manufacturer and distributors, the shelflife of the products, etc. In the online internet based salesenvironment, the value of coupons and rebates dispensed to Buyers arethus easily tracked altered dynamically.

The integration of sales systems from multiple sellers, especially theintegration of sales systems of manufacturers and their distributors,makes it possible to determine the sale prices for similar products fromdifferent retailers and distributors that sell the same family ofproducts from a manufacturer.

The partners of an integrated channel can retrieve configuration relatedinformation from the Manufacturer's configuration system, via theIntegrated Channel Service Manager. Such information may also beselectively cached by the Integrated Channel Service Manager. The sameis true for Pricing information. Similarly, catalogs of products may bemaintained by the manufacturer which are then accessed by the resellers,distributors and retailers via the Integrated Channel Service Manager,and optionally directly from the manufacturer environment incoordination with the Integrated Channel Service Manager.

The integration of sales, order fulfillment, inventory managementsystems, pricing systems and promotion systems from various Sellingentities that form a part of a manufacturer's channel organization isachieved by (a) specifying interactions between these systems, (b)identifying information exchange (c) specifying programming interfaces(APIs) and protocols for information exchange and (d) constructingtransactional systems that support such interactions based on theprotocols.

The interactions between the various systems are expressed as Use-Casesand scenarios. The Use-Cases also capture details of informationexchange. Information exchange is typically expressed in terms ofbusiness objects such as Quotes, Line Items, Shopping Carts, Prices,Discounts, Orders, Contracts, etc. that are exchanged between systems.The actual transfer of information is carried out in one of two ways:(1) using XML based information structures for transfer of structureddata between systems or (2) exchanging references to objects that aresaved or instantiated in a common data exchange layer that is accessibleto all participating systems.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the Integrated ChannelService Manager is capable of interacting with Seller's systems(manufacturers, resellers, distributors and retailers) employing aSalesBridge software that is installed on each of the Seller's systems.The SalesBridge software is used by the Integrated Channel ServiceManager to execute queries sent to the Seller's systems from theIntegrated Channel Service Manager. The Seller systems of themanufacturers, resellers, distributors and retailers, in response,return shopping carts with prices back to the Integrated Channel ServiceManager. In general, the SalesBridge is used by the Integrated ChannelService Manager as a remote database layer that is capable oftranslating queries received from the Integrated Channel Service Managerinto queries and processes that retrieve the requested information, suchas configuration, pricing and inventory, from the Seller's Sales andother software.

The Integrated Channel Service Manager includes one or more web serversoftware components with which Buyers' computers interact, one or moreApplication server software components that provide various Salesservices to Buyers accessing them over the internet, and one or moreSales databases that is used to save various kinds of information suchas customer profile, saved quotes, product categories, etc.

Among other things, the Integrated Channel Service Manager also supportsproduct category selection, search query formulation, instant coupon andrebate processing, shopping cart comparison, composite shopping cartreview, shopping cart pricing and saved quote re-pricing, quotepersistence and query persistence, scheduled delivery information fromBuyers, customer profile auto transactions, opportunity management andsales agent support, automatic registration of products on behalf ofBuyers, and Warranty management. In addition, it also includes aSalesBridge software interface that makes it possible to interact withthe Seller's systems.

The Integrated Channel Service Manager activities include identifyingpotential Sellers for Buyers based on the Buyer's preferences and theactual inventory levels of the Sellers in the Channel. In addition, itidentifies one or more Seller systems in the Channel as potentialparticipants in a sale. Should the Buyer decide to consummate a salebased on the recommendation of Sellers by the Integrated Channel ServiceManager, the Seller systems participating in the sale are informed oftheir role in fulfilling the Buyer's order by the Integrated ChannelService Manager. Subsequently, the order fulfillment systems of theSellers are queried by the Integrated Channel Service Manager toretrieve order status information on behalf of the Buyer.

The Integrated Channel Service Manager assists Buyers in generating aquery for subsequent submission of those queries to Seller's systems.Queries can take the form of old saved quotes or shopping carts, couponsselected, rebates selected, query text, third party shopping carts,sales brochures, persistent queries, etc. The Integrated Channel ServiceManager preprocesses Buyer specified queries and delivers them toselected Seller systems that are identified based on one or more searchcriteria including, in some cases, product categories, customerprofiles, inventory levels, pricing information, etc.

When the Seller's systems respond with product and pricing information,for example, with priced shopping carts that include all or a subset ofthe Buyer's product list, the Integrated Channel Service Managerpresents the information to Buyer for interaction with the Buyer.Optionally, such information is presented as a comparison of productsand prices.

Typically, if a Buyer's order cannot be fulfilled by one individualSeller, the Integrated Channel Service Manager responds to Buyer'sspecification of product and pricing selection by interacting with oneor more corresponding Seller's systems to complete the salestransactions. Subsequently, the Integrated Channel Service Managerperforms post sales functions which selectively include registration,warranties, updates, maintenance contracts, opportunity management etc.Opportunity management is employed to generate additional sales orrepeat sales.

In one embodiment, in order to share information in the channel, theIntegrated Channel Service Manager provides an information exchangelayer that is populated with relevant data extracted from each of theparticipants in the Integrated Channel. Such information is lateraccessed by other participants under the control and coordination of theIntegrated Channel Service Manager. The information exchange layer isimplemented using an object-oriented database, objects of informationbeing transferred to or retrieved from the participants of an IntegratedChannel as XML based structured data. In another embodiment, theinformation exchange layer maintained by the Integrated Channel ServiceManager is an object-oriented layer of software and associatedprocessing software implemented over a relational database.

The Integrated Channel Service Manager thus makes it possible to providea Buyer with a quote for the set of products the Buyer desires, thequote being assembled from information extracted from one or moreparticipants of the Integrated Channel System and including products andprices provided by one or more of such participants. When such a quoteis found acceptable by the Buyer and the Buyer places an order based onthe quote provided, the Integrated Channel Service Manager disassemblesthe quote to provide relevant portions of the quote to the actualparticipant selling the product to the Buyer as sub-quotes, and thenforwards the sub-quotes to the participants involved. The IntegratedChannel Service Manager selectively, when required, executes credit cardprocessing to execute a single sales transaction for the Buyer thatcovers all of the sub-quotes, and thus stands in and executes salestransactions on behalf of all the participants. In addition, orderstatus information is retrieved, as necessary and when required, toenable the Buyer to follow-up on the order placed.

FIG. 35 is a schematic diagram of an Integrated Channel Systemcomprising an Integrated Channel Service Manager and a manufacturerenvironment. The manufacturer environment comprises a data warehouse, adata mining system, and a SalesBridge software component, a Pricingsystem and an Order fulfillment system (and other Configuration andInventory Systems not shown). The Integrated Channel System furthercomprises a Reseller system for Reseller A comprising an inventorysystem and an order system, a Reseller system for Distributor Bcomprising a Seller's system, and a Retailer system for Retailer Ccomprising a Seller's system.

In general, the Integrated Channel Service Manager communicates withSalesBridge software integrated with individual Seller systems.Specifically, the Integrated Channel Service Manager communicates withthe SalesBridge software installed with each of the Seller systems,namely, the manufacturer environment, Reseller A, Distributor B, andRetailer C.

More specifically, the Integrated Channel Service Manager sends queriesrelated to order status, inventory levels, pricing and productconfiguration to the manufacturer environment and receives informationfrom the manufacturer environment. It also selectively sends informationrelated to product sales, pricing, inventory, order status, etc.retrieved from Reseller A and Distributor B to the manufacturerenvironment. In addition, the Integrated Channel Service Managerfacilitates the selective exchange of sales, inventory, pricing,configuration, order status, etc. between the manufacturer environment,the Reseller A, Distributor B and Retailer C. Such selective exchange ofinformation between the manufacturer environment, Reseller A,Distributor B and Retailer C occurs via the SalesBridge softwareintegrated with their respective systems, under the supervision orcontrol of the Integrated Channel Service Manager.

As discussed above, quite often, manufacturers of products employseveral distributors, resellers and retailers to sell their products.Often these distributors and retailers have their own internet salespresence and endeavor to sell the manufacturers' products on theinternet. One of the common problems faced by these distributors andretailers is their inability to assure Buyers of the availability ofproducts, whether the product is coming from their own or themanufacturer's inventory. This causes problems during order fulfillmentactivities after a Buyer makes a purchase and delay in delivery follows.In general, manufacturers do not have the ability to determine the salesexecuted by their various retailers and distributors. This causes (theSeller) problems in determining production targets.

These problems are solved by integrating the sales, order fulfillmentand manufacturing systems of all sellers in the channel, as shown, forexample in FIG. 35. Such integration is facilitated by the IntegratedChannel Service Manager and the individual SalesBridge softwareincorporated in the software of each of the partners in the channel.

SalesBridge software, in addition to facilitating sales transactions andproviding a querying interface, also provides support for the followingservices:

-   -   Mapping tool    -   Data Warehousing    -   Data Mining

As sales software and the ERP market becomes more mature, a criticalneed arises for tools that allow two communicating systems to query eachother and selectively exchange data. An obvious example of this is thescenario where a company is using SAP as their back-office system, andwishes to make it interact with the SalesBridge software. An overridingconcern for customers will probably be SalesBridge integration withtheir current system. The front office suite (e.g., Multi SellerInterface System (MSIS) or the Integrated Channel System would need tobe able to send quotes, configurations, pricing details, etc. to aseller having SAP for order fulfillment, inventory and manufacturing.The main point of integration then becomes the data exchange that needsto take place: The SalesBridge software translates its quote object andits configuration object into the details the SAP system needs, andsends those details to the SAP database. In addition, the SalesBridgesoftware translates queries sent by the Integrated Channel System orMSIS into queries that can be executed on the databases or back-officesystems available at the Seller (e.g., the manufacturer, reseller,distributor or retailer).

SalesBridge MapTool (or simply MapTool) is a data mapping system ortool. It consists of the three pieces mentioned above:

a) a GUI and programmatic events that allow a consultant to mapSalesBridge objects to/from fields and tables in a foreign database;

b) a data transfer engine which (at run time) connects to the foreigndatabase and allows the actual transfer of information between the twosystems; and

c) a report kit that provides reporting functionality.

In addition, the SalesBridge software makes use of some of the artifactscaptured by the SalesBridge MapTool to extract information, saveinformation and to modify information, as necessary, in the database orassociated software systems at the Seller's environment.

Details of the Mapping Activity

The mapping between the Seller's database or run-time systems and theSalesBridge component is performed as follows:

1 The MapTool, using JDBC or ODBC (or JDBC/ODBC) based programmingapi's, interacts with the foreign database (Seller's database) andretrieves schema information using Seller provided username andpasswords.

2 The MapTool accesses SalesBridge metadata information from theSalesBridge software (or retrieves them from the MSIS system) toidentify mapping requirements.

3 The MapTool facilitates the creation of mapping information formapping the SalesBridge metadata to the Seller's database.

4 It also identifies mapping necessary but not possible, so that it maybe remedied Via additional tables created in the Seller's and orSalesBridge environment.

5 It also facilitates identification of metadata mapping that is to besupported by programmatically creating mapping code components.

Once the mapping is created, it is saved in the SalesBridge component atthe Seller's environment.

Mapping is used, for example, for all the following types of informationhandled by the SalesBridge software:

-   -   Inventory    -   Product Information    -   Configuration    -   Pricing    -   Supplier Related Information    -   Promotional Information    -   Order Fulfillment    -   Transaction Completion (Credit Card Info, etc.)    -   Order Status    -   Shipping    -   Billing    -   Other . . .

While SalesBridge enables the Seller to execute sales, inventory andother related activities, it is desirable to facilitate the collection,processing and archival of such information over time in a DataWarehouse. The SalesBridge software, via its MapTool, makes it possibleto not only map sales, inventory and other related information into aData Warehouse, but also makes it possible to populate such a DataWarehouse with relevant information at run-time. This enables theSalesBridge software to act as an interface to the Data Warehouse forother systems on an Integrated Channel System or an MSIS system.

Thus, SalesBridge Data Warehouse capabilities include:

-   -   Providing a means of creating a mapping between sales, inventory        and other related information and a data warehouse.    -   Providing means to save such mapping information in the        SaleBridge.    -   Providing the means to selectively populate such a Data        Warehouse at nm-time.    -   Providing means to retrieve information from the Data Warehouse        using the SalesBridge querying interface as well as by a special        Data Warehouse service. Additionally, the SalesBridge software        can be installed with its own Data Warehouse so as to provide        warehousing services to the Seller.

Data Mining is supported by SalesBridge by providing an ad hoc queryinginterface to a Data Warehouse that is populated. Such ad hoc queryinginterface makes it possible for other managers of information in theIntegrated Channel system or at the Seller's environment to extractinformation to enhance their decision making capabilities. In addition,third party decision support systems are provided an interface tointeract with the Data Mining service.

The partners of an integrated channel can perform Data Miningtransactions and retrieve configuration, pricing, different types offorecasts, sales, marketing, and other related information from theManufacturer's Data Warehouse using the Data Mining tool. The access tosuch information is coordinated by the Integrated Channel ServiceManager. Such information may also be selectively cached by theIntegrated Channel Service Manager. The same is true for access toarchived information maintained by the manufacturer at the DataWarehouse. Similarly, statistical information on products and sales maybe maintained by the manufacturer which is then accessed by resellers,distributors and retailers via the Integrated Channel Service Manager,the SalesBridge software and the Data Mining Tool. Optionally, areseller or retailer can directly access such information from themanufacturer environment by interacting with the SalesBridge software incoordination with the Integrated Channel Service Manager.

The integration of a Data Warehouse and Data Mining tool that forms apart of a manufacturer's channel organization is achieved by a)specifying interactions between these systems and the SalesBridge, b)identifying information exchange, c) specifying programming interfaces(APIs) and protocols for information exchange between these systems andthe SalesBridge; and d) constructing transactional systems that supportsuch interactions based on the protocols.

The interactions between the various systems are expressed as Use-Casesand scenarios. The Use-Cases also capture details of informationexchange. Information exchange is typically expressed in terms ofbusiness objects such as Quotes, Line Items, Shopping Carts, Prices,Discounts, Orders, Contracts, etc. that are exchanged between systems.The actual transfer of information is carried out in one of severalways: a) using XML based information structures for transfer ofstructured data between these systems and the SalesBridge software, b)exchanging references to objects that are saved or instantiated in acommon data exchange layer that is accessible to all participatingsystems, c) providing a query interface on the Data warehouse and theData Mining tool that is accessed by the SalesBridge software, or d)providing a set of application programming interfaces using programswritten to enable the SalesBridge software to interact with the DataWarehouse and the Data Mining tool.

The SalesBridge software is used by the Integrated Channel ServiceManager to execute Data Mining queries sent to the Seller's systems fromthe Integrated Channel Service Manager or from other resellers andretailers in the Channel. The Seller's systems of the manufacturers,resellers, distributors and retailers, in response, return the retrievedinformation, if any, back to the Integrated Channel Service Manager orto the Seller that sent the query. In general, the SalesBridge softwareis used by the Integrated Channel Service Manager as a remote databaselayer that is capable of translating queries received from theIntegrated Channel Service Manager into queries and processes thatretrieve the requested information from the Data Mining tool or directlyfrom the Data Warehouse.

The SalesBridge software is used to populate data into the DataWarehouse, either directly or via a pipeline of processing software thatmassages the data before entering it into the Data Warehouse.

FIG. 36 is a perspective diagram of an online buyer using a computer3605 interacting with a server 3620, via the Internet 3610, to specifyproducts that are to be purchased periodically, to selectively save thespecification of products that are to be purchased periodically in aScript Storage and Execution Environment 3615, and to selectivelyretrieve previously saved specification of products from the ScriptStorage and Execution Environment 3615 for modification or forpurchasing. The Script Storage and Execution Environment 3615 istypically associated with a web server 3620 that provides internet-basedweb hosting services. In addition, the Script Storage and ExecutionEnvironment 3615 is linked via appropriate connections 3645, 3655 toinformation systems at one or more manufacturer or merchant environments3625, 3627. Such information systems include appropriate internet webhosting services.

In one embodiment of the present invention, customers to the web server3620 are presented with lists of products extracted from one or morecatalogs or from one or more web content providers such as manufacturers3625, 3627. If the customer selects one or more products from thecatalogs or list of products provided by the web server 3620, thecustomer is provided with the option of either purchasing the productsselected, saving a selection of products, preferably as a script, orpurchasing as well as saving the selection of products. The customer isalso provided with the option of downloading the selection of productsas a script that can be used to purchase those products at a futuretime.

If the customer chooses to save the selection of products for subsequentretrieval and purchase, the web server 3620 saves it as a script in theScript Storage and Execution Environment 3615. Subsequently, thecustomer can establish a new session with the web server 3620 to requestexecution of the saved script by the Script Storage and ExecutionEnvironment 3615 resulting in the purchase of the product.Alternatively, the customer can send an email from the customer'scomputer 3605 to the Script Storage and Execution Environment 3615 overthe link 3647 or via the Internet 3610 requesting execution of one ormore previously saved scripts. In response, the Script Storage andExecution Environment 3615 retrieves the saved scripts for the customerand executes the scripts. It also creates a report including the resultsfrom the execution of the scripts and sends it to the customer as anacknowledgement.

If the customer elects to interactively purchase the selected productsfrom the web server 3620, the customer can consummate the purchase byusing a credit card for payment or by accessing a previously establishedcustomer account. The customer is then given the option of saving thedetails of the online sales transactions, including the credit cardinformation or customer account used for the sale, for a repetition ofthe sales transaction on another occasion. The customer can selectivelyretrieve saved sales transaction information in the form of scripts ofstructured data, and download it to the customer's computer 3605.

The web server 3620 is used by customers to create customer profiles. Acustomer profile includes shipping address, credit card relatedinformation, etc. Once a customer profile is created, it is used toexpedite subsequent customer purchases. Customers who choose not to havea profile created for them may be required to enter their shippingaddress, credit card related information, etc., during each purchasingactivity.

Customer profiles, typically provided by customers during a customerprofile generation activity, are selectively saved by the web server3620 so that they may be used during the execution of a saved salestransaction script. Such saved customer profiles are then used tocomplete sales transactions and to ship products after executing savedscripts.

Products are located for purchase either by browsing through severalcategories of products presented by the web server 3620 or by searchingfor them. In one embodiment of the present invention, a customer, usingthe computer 3605, and the Internet connection 3630, accesses one ormore catalogs presented by the web server environment 3620 associatedwith, and operatively coupled to the Script Storage and ExecutionEnvironment 3615. The customer then activates a purchase button topurchase the products selected. In response, the web server 3620 createsa transaction script and communicates the transaction script to theScript Storage and Execution Environment 3615 via connection 3640. TheScript Storage and Execution Environment 3615 completes a purchase orderfor the customer incorporating all the products selected by the customerand optionally applying all applicable rebates and coupons, based on thetransaction script. Also, based on the transaction script, it performsorder fulfillment operations aimed at assigning products from theinventory of one or more manufacturers 3625, 3627 (or retailers ordistributors, not shown) to the customer.

In one embodiment, the inventory of some of the products purchasablefrom the web server 3620 are selectively maintained by themanufacturer/merchant environment 3625. For such products, to performorder fulfillment activities, the Script Storage and ExecutionEnvironment 3615 interacts with the manufacturer/merchant environment3625, over the connection 3645, in one of two approaches. In the firstapproach, the manufacturer/merchant environment 3625 receives purchaseorders or purchase order scripts to some products currently available intheir inventory from the Script Storage and Execution Environment 3615,in order to perform order fulfillment for the customer. Themanufacturer/merchant environment 3625 executes the received script orprocesses the purchase order to perform order fulfillment. To providethe customer profile to the manufacturer/merchant environment, thecustomer's profile or a subset thereof, is made visible or is sent tothe manufacturer/merchant environment 3625, which then ships theproducts to the customer. In a second approach, the Script Storage andExecution Environment 3615 executes the script representing thecustomer's sales transaction in its environment and interacts with themanufacturer/merchant environment 3625 to retrieve order fulfillmentinformation and to convey shipping information.

In addition to sales transaction scripts, customers may create orderstatus scripts, report generation scripts, etc. and save them in theScript Storage and Execution Environment 3615. Such scripts maysubsequently be executed at the web server. They may also be sent to themanufacturer environment 3625 for execution. The manufacturerenvironment 3625 can be made capable of executing scripts byincorporating an instance of the Script Storage and ExecutionEnvironment 3615 within its environment.

In another embodiment, the manufacturer 3625 is capable of saving and orexecuting saved sales transaction scripts or other scripts sent to it bythe web server 3620. Such scripts are executed by the manufacturerenvironment 3625, and the results of the execution are selectivelycommunicated to the web server 3620 and to the customer using thecomputer 3605.

Customers can create and save scripts at the Script Storage andExecution Environment 3615 specifying their preferred vendor list,product preferences, accounting preferences, payment methods, reportingpreferences, etc. Such scripts are subsequently accessed by the ScriptStorage and Execution Environment 3615 during the execution of salestransaction scripts.

In one embodiment, the web server 3620 serves as a front end to thee-commerce sites of manufacturers and merchants wherein customerspurchase products from the web server 3620 and pay for the productspurchased via credit cards. The web server 3620 in turn acquires theproducts purchased by the customer from customer designated suppliers(via scripts) such as manufacturers, distributors or retail merchants. Asupplier is selected based on customer's profile, the saved scriptsindicating the customer's preferred vendor list, the product category,the inventories of products at the various suppliers, the businessarrangements made by the customers or by the owners of the web server3620 with various suppliers, and other criteria. In effect, one or moresuppliers sells the products to the web server 3620 which uses theScript Storage and Execution Environment 3615 to execute the salestransactions and to save such sales transactions information.

In one embodiment, the web server 3620 sends promotional material viaemail to customers and attaches a script associated with the purchase ofthe products being promoted. The customer selectively edits the attachedscript and emails it back to the web server 3620. The web server 3620selectively forwards the received script attachments to the ScriptStorage and Execution Environment 3615 for execution. The Script Storageand Execution Environment 3615 selectively executes the scripts andcollects the results of the execution to the web server 3620 and to thecustomer.

In a similar embodiment, the customer sends an email to an email addressassociated with the web server 3620. The email includes a script thatextracts product and pricing information from the web server 3620 andspecifies a destination for the extracted information. The web server3620 receives the email and the script via the associated email address,forwards the script to the Script Storage and Execution Environment3615, and sends an acknowledgement email to the customer. The ScriptStorage and Execution Environment 3615 executes the script received fromthe customer and extracts the required information and forwards it tothe destination specified by the customer in the script.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the script executed by theScript Storage and Execution Environment 3615 comprises one or more ofthe commands supported by the PANINI Language presented in the AppendixA. In this embodiment, customers email scripts written in the PANINILanguage to the web server 3620 or directly to the Script Storage andExecution Environment 3615 for execution. In addition, the web server3620 creates scripts in the PANINI language specifying salestransactions from online customers and sends it to the Script Storageand Execution Environment 3615 for execution.

In another embodiment of the present invention, a scripting languageother than the PANINI language is employed by customers, the web server3620 and the Script Storage and Execution Environment 3615. The ScriptStorage and Execution Environment may be incorporated into the webserver 3620 or into a manufacturer's environment 3625, 3627.

FIG. 37 is a diagram showing the incorporation of a Script Storage andExecution Environment 3745 into both a web server 3720 and amanufacturer/merchant environment 3725. The web server 3720 downloadsscripts (of different kinds) to the manufacturer/merchant environment3725, as needed, and requests the manufacturer/merchant environment 3725to execute them. The manufacturer/merchant environment 3725 saves thedownloaded scripts in its Script Storage and Execution Environment 3745and executes the required scripts as necessary. For example, it executesscripts under the direction of the Script Storage and ExecutionEnvironment 3745, in response to events during computation of certainservices provided by the manufacturer/merchant environment 3725, or inresponse to requests received from the customer's computer 3725A vialink 3750 or 3730. The scripts saved in the manufacturer/merchantenvironment 3725 can be selectively updated by the Script Storage andExecution Environment 3745 when better or newer versions of the scriptsbecome available. Customers can send requests directly to themanufacturer/merchant environment 3725 and to the Script Storage andExecution Environment 3745 as email based scripts. In addition, they canalso send requests via GUI based interactions with web servers, such asweb server 3720.

FIG. 38 is a block diagram showing the different functional componentsof a web server environment 3800 that facilitates email and script basedsales transactions. The web server environment 3800 comprises a scriptsaving and execution engine 3805, a manufacturer/merchant interface3810, an app server interface 3815, an email server interface 3835, anRMI interface 3820, an HTTP interface 3825, a catalog interface 3830,and a database interface 3840. Other interfaces may also be incorporatedinto the web server environment 3800.

The script saving and execution engine 3805 is used to execute scriptsreceived from customers, manufacturers, merchants and those retrievedfrom script repository such as a database. The email server interface3835 is used to retrieve scripts sent as email from customers,manufacturers, and merchants. It is also used to send email tocustomers, manufacturers, and merchants along with attachments ofscripts or reports. The email server interface 3835 provides aninterface that is used to communicate with mail servers such as SMTPservers, POP mail servers and IMAP servers.

FIG. 39 is a block diagram of a scripting execution environment 3900that provides access to various resources and information viaappropriate interfaces during the execution of scripts. The ScriptingExecution Environment 3900 comprises a script execution engine 3920, ascript saving unit 3910, an order fulfillment manager 3975, anauthentication manager 3905, a catalog manager 3980, a customer profilemanager 3915, a pricing manager 3970, a search engine 3985, a trackingmanager 3925, a statistics reporting manager 3935, and other relatedfunctionality 3930. The various managers provide a mechanism to accessassociated services during the execution of scripts by the scriptexecution engine 3920 within the scripting execution environment 3900.

Online customers 3950 interact with the scripting execution environment3900 via communication links 3955. Online customers 3950 can downloadscripts from the scripting execution environment 3900. They can alsocommunicate scripts to the scripting execution environment 3900 forexecution. Similarly, manufacturers and online merchant environments3960 interact with the scripting execution environment 3900 viacommunication links 3965.

FIG. 40 is a perspective diagram of an online customer using a computer4005 interacting with an online sales and pricing system 4015, via theInternet 4010, to conduct online purchases during which the pricingcomputation employs, among other things, the customer's schedule ofproduct delivery, the forecasts of product prices provided by onlinefutures trading systems and the projected needs of the customer. Theonline sales and pricing system 4015 is typically associated with a webserver 4020 that provides internet-based web hosting services. Inaddition, the online sales and pricing system 4015 is linked viaappropriate connections 4045 to information systems at one or moreonline futures trading system 4025. Such information systems includeappropriate internet web hosting services.

Customers are presented with a catalog of products to choose from by theweb server 4020 associates with the online sales and pricing system4015, when they visit the online sales and pricing system 4015. If thecustomer selects one or more products from the catalog or list ofproducts available at the online sales and pricing system 4015, they areprovided with the option of purchasing the products.

If the customer elects to purchase the selected products from the onlinesales and pricing system 4015, all applicable rebates and coupons areapplied to the customer's purchases by the online sales and pricingsystem 4015 in the determination of a final purchase price for thecustomer. The customer can consummate the purchase by using a creditcard for payment. The online sales and pricing system 4015 processescustomer's credit cards for sales processing. Corporate customers areallowed to open an account with the online sales and pricing system 4015that will permit them to purchase products online and settle theiraccounts periodically.

Customer profiles, typically provided by customers during a customerprofile generation activity, is selectively used by the online sales andpricing system 4015 to complete sales transactions and to ship products.Customer profile includes shipping address, credit card relatedinformation, etc. Once a customer profile is created, it is used toexpedite subsequent customer purchases. Customers who choose not to havea profile created for them may be required to enter their shippingaddress, credit card related information, etc. during each purchasingactivity.

In one embodiment of the present invention, a customer, using thecomputer 4005, and the Internet connection 4030, accesses one or morecatalogs presented by a server environment 4020 associated with andconnectively coupled to, the online sales and pricing system 4015. Inthis embodiment, the customer would optionally retrieve productinformation on one or more products that the customer plans to purchaseby browsing through several categories of products presented by theonline sales and pricing system 4015. The customer then activates apurchase button to purchase the products selected. The online sales andpricing system 4015 completes a quote containing a price for thecustomer incorporating all the products selected by the customer andoptionally applying all applicable rebates and coupons. If the customeragrees to the quote, the quote is converted into a purchase order forthe customer.

The quote and the purchase order would therefore include prices that aredetermined by incorporating the schedule of delivery optionally providedby the customer. The computation of the prices for the products wouldalso involve information on the forecasted prices for the productsacquired from one or more online futures trading systems. For someproducts, such forecasted pricing information is accessed from themanufacturers.

In one embodiment, forecasted pricing information for both theshort-term and the long-term of some of the products purchasable fromthe online sales and pricing system 4015 are selectively maintained bythe online futures trading system 4025. For such products, to performpricing activities, the online sales and pricing system 4015 interactswith the online futures trading system 4025, over the connection 4045,in one of two approaches. In the first approach, the online futurestrading system 4025 receives a list of products from the online salesand pricing system 4015 in order to provide futures related forecastedprices. The online futures trading system 4025 then returns theforecasted prices to the online sales and pricing system 4015. Thereturned forecasted prices are used by online sales and pricing system4015 in determining the prices for the products purchased by thecustomer.

In the second approach, the online sales and pricing system 4015requests live data (or periodically delivered data) on various productsfrom one or more futures trading systems and processes such receivedfutures related information in order to calculate the product prices forthe quotes and purchase orders of online customers.

The determination of the total purchase order price involvesidentification of delivery schedules for each of the products on thepurchase order and the calculation of prices for those products usingthe forecasted prices derived from futures information provided by theonline futures trading systems. In forecasting the price of a product inthe future, sources of information other than online future tradingsystems may also be selectively employed.

In one embodiment, the online sales and pricing system 4015 serves as afront end to the e-commerce sites of manufacturers and merchants whereincustomers purchase products from the online sales and pricing system4015 and reimburse it, say via credit cards, for the products purchasedonline. The online sales and pricing system 4015 in turn acquires theproducts purchased by the customer from designated suppliers such asmanufacturers, distributors or retail merchants. A supplier is selectedbased on the product category, the inventories of products at thevarious suppliers, the business arrangements made with various suppliersand other criteria. In effect, the supplier sells the products to theonline sales and pricing system 4015 which ensures the pricing ofproducts in a customer's purchase order based on their deliveryschedules and the forecasted prices for the various products. The onlinesales and pricing system 4015 selectively charges the suppliers atransaction fee for generating their business. The customer is alsoselectively made to pay a service charge to the online sales and pricingsystem 4015 for its services.

To submit online information on forecasted prices of products to theonline sales and pricing system 4015 so that they can be used todetermine purchase prices for customers, one or more online futurestrading systems 4025 establish connections 4055 with the online salesand pricing system 4015. In some embodiments, the connection 4055 is theinternet.

FIG. 41 is a diagram showing the various inputs and outputs of theonline sales and pricing system 4015. The online sales and pricingsystem 4015 receives Shopping Cart and Delivery Schedule 4105 and, inresponse, returns a Quote 4110 containing the prices for variousproducts. In addition, it optionally receives Customer's ScheduleChanges 4115 from customers subsequent to a sale and, in response, itreturns Pricing Updates to Quote 4120. It also receives scheduled andunscheduled Forecasted Prices 4125 from various sources such as futuretrading systems and market research firms. Future trading systemstypically provide information on various commodities markets andforecasts of prices of various products from those markets. Marketresearch firms such as Gartner Group, Forester Research, etc. provideperiodic research reports on various technologies and products. In orderto selectively provide automatic refunds to customers when the actualcosts of products previously purchased by customers is considerablybelow the purchasing price paid for by the customer via an initialquote, the online sales and pricing system 4015 returns selectiveRefunds to Customers 4130.

FIG. 42 shows various forms of product price forecasting informationreceived by the online sales and pricing system 4015 from pricingforecasting systems such as futures trading systems, commodity tradingorganizations, market research institutions, manufacturers, etc. Priceforecasting information may be received as a table of forecasted productprices 4205, as a graph 4215 showing quarterly variation in productprices, or as a graph showing trends 4210 such as the graph depicting anexemplary technology adoption process.

The online sales and pricing system 4015 of FIG. 40 may receive pricingforecasts categorized by geographic region where they apply. Some of thepricing forecast information presented to the online sales and pricingsystem 4015 from information providers such as the online futurestrading system 4025 may selectively be encrypted for subsequentdecryption and processing by the online sales and pricing system 4015.

In general, pricing quotes for products purchase and the price forecaststhat they are based on may be selectively saved by customers forsubsequent processing. The online futures trading system 4025 may choosenot to honor coupons that have expired.

In another embodiment, the pricing and forecasting information dispensedby information providers such as the online futures trading system 4025and received by the online sales and pricing system 4015 is generated ineXentisible Manipulation Language (XML) format. Such XML formattedforecasting information sent by the online futures trading system 4025is processed by the online sales and pricing system 4015.

FIG. 43 is a block diagram showing exemplary components of the onlinesales and pricing system 4015 of FIG. 40. The online sales and pricingsystem 4015 includes a browsable catalog 4380 through which customerscan select one or more products for purchasing, a search engine 4385 forsearching for specific products based on one or more criteria, anAuthentication Manager 4305 for verifying the authenticity of customeraccount information, and a Delivery Manager 4310 which manages thedelivery of products to the customer based on the customer's schedule ofdelivery, and a Quote Generator 4320 that generates quotes for thecustomer employing product prices generated by a Pricing Manager 4370.It also includes a Customer Profile Manager 4315 which is used to gatherprofile information of customers and an optional Tracking Manager 4325that is used to track user buying patterns over a long term. An optionalStatistics Reporting Unit 4335 selectively provides various statisticalinformation and pricing related forecast information to customersperiodically or on-demand.

When customers decide to purchase products from the online sales andpricing system 4015, the pricing manager 4370 provides pricingfunctionality that incorporates calculation of prices based on severalfactors including the customer's schedule of product delivery and theforecast of prices provided by pricing forecast providers 4360. Thepricing manager 4370 also includes a credit card processing unit thatprocesses customer sales that are based on credit cards, and a pricerdatabase employed to store pricing related data. An order fulfillmentmanager 4375 provides information on available inventory of products. Ifa product purchased by a customer is not in stock or not stored locallyat the online sales and pricing system 4015, the order fulfillmentmanager 4375 makes it possible to purchase that product from themanufacturer, distributors or merchants. Such purchases are done in oneof two ways—seamlessly where the customer does not realize that theproduct is being acquired from a manufacturer or merchant, or explicitlywhere the customer is aware of the participation of a manufacturer ormerchant in the fulfillment of his purchase order.

Online Customers 4350 access the online sales and pricing system 4015over the connection 4355. They can browse through the online browsablecatalog of products and services 4380 or search for a specific productor service based on criteria such as product category, geographicalregion, brand names, etc. Pricing forecast providers 4360 access theonline sales and pricing system 4015 over the connection 4395.

In a similar embodiment of the present invention, quote generation isperformed by the electronic commerce software of a manufacturer oronline merchant to which a customer migrates to from the browsableindexed coupon selection software, along with a shopping cart with oneor more selected products, a delivery schedule for the products, andforecasted prices for the products corresponding with their deliveryschedule. This implies that a customer can consummate. a purchase of aproduct at a merchant or manufacturer's e-commerce site following theselection of products from the online sales and pricing system 4015 andsubsequent vectoring with pricing forecasts and delivery schedule to thee-commerce site.

Quotes created by the online sales and pricing system 4015 may beprinted by customers for tracking of the delivery of the products. Theprinting is facilitated by a print engine that is either available atthe customer's computer or can be easily downloaded to the customer'scomputer.

In one embodiment, the online sales and pricing system 4015 providesinsurance to customers, via an insurance company, for optionallyinsurance against losses occurring from an overestimated quote which, bythe time of delivery per the customer's schedule, is worth substantiallyless than the purchasing price of the quote. In another embodiment, theonline sales and pricing system 4015 dispenses refunds or coupons forsubsequent purchases to those customers based on the price differencebetween the actual sales price taking into account the actual prices ofthe purchased products at delivery time and the quoted sales price forthe products. The coupons may be redeemed by the customers duringsubsequent online purchases at the online sales and pricing system 4015.

To facilitate location of products by a customer, in one embodiment, theonline sales and pricing system 4015 provides a web interface whereproducts are categorized into different product categories. A customerbrowses, using a web browser, through categories and sub-categories ofproducts to locate and purchase one or more products. The online salesand pricing system 4015 also categorizes products by manufacturers andmerchants. If a customer purchases one or more products on the onlinesales and pricing system 4015, the rebates and coupons, if any, areautomatically applied to the final price for the customer.

Internet portals, such as Yahoo, and internet web services, such asinternet service providers (ISPs), can provide an automatic connectionto the online sales and pricing system 4015, so as to provide theirreaders information on available products, including forecasted pricesfor the short or long term, associated with one or more products on thecurrently displayed web page. Alternatively, these portals can route webbrowsers automatically to the online sales and pricing system 4015 toretrieve associated pricing information if necessary, say in a pop-upscreen (or frame) automatically created by the currently visibleweb-page provided by the portal. Thus, readers of web content providedby web page hosts and portals can retrieve forecasted prices (for shortterm and/or long term) while they browse product information.

The online sales and pricing system 4015 makes it possible to integratepurchasing with software registration and product surveys. Customers whobuy and install software are often reluctant to register them with thevendor. This situation is true for other types of products, too. Inorder to provide an incentive for registration of products, themanufacturers or vendors of such products can integrate the online salesand pricing system 4015 with the registration process so that customersmight be enticed with coupons for their next purchases.

FIG. 44 shows the operation of the pricing logic based on unit prices ofthe products as determined by forecasted pricing information obtainedfrom pricing forecast providers and the delivery schedule provided bythe customer. The customer's delivery schedule 4405 provides informationon when the customer plans to use or consume the products beingpurchased. The forecasted prices 4410 provides pricing forecastsobtained from one or more pricing forecast, providers for one or moreproducts being purchased by the customer, for the entire duration of thedelivery schedule. The online sales and pricing system 4015 of FIG. 40generates an online quote 4415 for the customer using the deliveryschedule 4405 and forecasted pricing 4410. The online sales and pricingsystem 4015 provides support for applying various types of discounts tothe quote of the customer and generates a total price for the customer.Subsequently, the purchase order is selectively updated by theapplication of rebates and coupons that may become available before thedelivery of the products to the customer, thereby automaticallyproviding savings to the customer.

In general, delivery schedules are provided by the customer to determinepricing based on proposed consumption rate, consumption schedule ordeployment plans of the products. Refunds or coupons are optionallyprovided to customers if the quoted price is significantly greater thanthe actual selling price.

Although a system and method according to the present invention has beendescribed in connection with the preferred embodiment, it is notintended to be limited to the specific form set forth herein, but on thecontrary, it is intended to cover such alternatives, modifications, andequivalents, as can be reasonably included within the spirit and scopeof the invention as defined by this disclosure and appended diagrams.

1. A network infrastructure that supports a plurality of user devices,the network infrastructure comprising: a first database that stores aplurality of data collections, each of the plurality of data collectionsrepresenting one of a plurality of advertisements; a second databasethat stores web site information; a first service that delivers to afirst user device of the plurality of user devices web page data that isused by the first user device to collect a first search term; a secondservice that, based at least in part on the first search term, extractsa first selection from the second database, the second service at leastassists in delivering to the first user device the first selection; athird service that identifies a first data collection that represents afirst advertisement from the plurality of data collections, the firstdata collection including a first description, a first limitation, and aweb page link, the identification of the first data collection by thethird service involving a consideration relating to both the firstsearch term and the first limitation, the third search service at leastassists in delivering to the first user device at least a portion of thefirst data collection; a fourth service that manages financialaccounting relating to the plurality of data collections, the managementby the fourth service including consideration of advertising activityinformation relating to the first data collection; a fifth service thatoffers a plurality of interfaces that attempt to securely andindependently couple a plurality of advertiser systems with the firstdatabase, the plurality of interfaces including a web browser basedinterface and a software application interface; the fifth service via atleast one of the plurality of interfaces supports delivery of additionaldata collections for storage with the plurality of data collections inthe first database; the fifth service via at least one of the pluralityof interfaces supports modification of at least a portion of the firstdata collection via a first of the plurality of advertiser systems; andthe fifth service via at least one of the plurality of interfacessupports a review relating to both the first data collection and theadvertising activity information.
 2. The network infrastructure of claim1, wherein the first limitation comprises a dispensing limit.
 3. Thenetwork infrastructure of claim 1, wherein the first limitationcomprises a geographical limitation.
 4. The network infrastructure ofclaim 1, wherein the first limitation comprises a time limitation. 5.The network infrastructure of claim 1, comprising a sixth service thatdelivers to the first user device of the plurality of user devicessecond web page data that is used by the first user device to collectuser data.
 6. The network infrastructure of claim 5, wherein the firstlimitation is related to at least a portion of the user data.
 7. Thenetwork infrastructure of claim 1, comprising a sixth service thatmaintains history of interaction data of the first user device of theplurality of user devices.
 8. The network infrastructure of claim 7,wherein the first limitation is related to at least a portion of thehistory of interaction data.